You'll never guess who put it there.
By Janice Forster, FindMyId.com
Reprinted with permission
All across America, county offices are succumbing to the demands of
title companies, major financial institutions and data brokers to sell
their stash of community identities at wholesale prices. Using the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), they take county registries of deeds
and recorder offices to court - and often win. Or, they simply hand over
enough cash to satiate your local registrar and walk away with your life
history.
Many states have passed laws recently to redact this information but the
public is generally unaware of it. Probably because the public is also
blissfully unaware that their own county offices have sold them to the
highest bidder.
The redaction forms are a joke, anyway. They direct the public to find
their documents, then list within the body of the document where the
sensitive information is located - and then ask you to list that
information. Problem is, the list of approved information for redaction
is so limited that the law is essentially useless.
Think this doesn't affect you?
Send me a note with your name and county -- no more. I'll reply with
everything your county land records has posted for the entire world to
see. That's right - the entire world - meaning anyone, anywhere, with
computer access. Your name, address, photos of your home, spouse's name,
social security numbers, bank numbers, judgments and liens, separation
agreements which list complete inventories of your home, who got what in
the divorce and where the kids are going this weekend - all courtesy of
your local land registry.
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Editors Note: Janice
Forster is a senior analyst with FindMyId.com . She has helped hundreds of
identity theft victims and potential victims discover and remove their
sensitive information from government websites. Her work was recently featured in U.S.A Today's
Good cybercitizens keep watch over ID-theft victims
You can write Jan at findmyid@mindspring.com
