Blogs
- Few things are more valuable than your personal data. Associate Editor Erik Larkin shows you how to protect it.
Subscribe to this blog
Privacy Watch
Attention, snoops and criminals! Got a hankering to poke into the private lives of your neighbors or friends? Looking for a quick and easy victim for your latest identity theft? You don't need to pull a break-in: A few clicks on your local county court clerk's Web site may provide you with all the information you need.
Court clerks have always maintained public records detailing some of the most intimate and personal aspects of our lives, from divorce filings to criminal proceedings. Now, many clerks are making those records available to anyone with an Internet browser.
In some cases, astoundingly sensitive information is available online. Ohio's public records law mandates probably the most comprehensive online access to court information in the nation. A cursory search through court records in Hamilton County, Ohio, gave me the names, birth dates, mailing addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and vehicle data of everyone who had a hearing at the court for a traffic ticket, for example. That's enough data for any stalker or identity thief.
"The top complaint the last three years is from people who don't like the financial matters in divorces being available, and the second complaint is that their Social Security number is available," says Hamilton County Clerk Jim Cissell. But he says that there's nothing he can do about it: The state's public records laws forbid court clerks to remove sensitive information from the records.
Of course, all this information has always been available to anyone willing to go down to the court clerk's office and ask for it. But in this case, the Internet really does change everything. If an identity thief asked a clerk for hundreds of divorce records, it would certainly prompt some suspicion. But that same thief can view or download thousands of records online without anyone noticing.
In one Hamilton County example, a job seeker was turned down because the prospective employer retrieved the applicant's criminal record from a data-mining service. A judge had ordered the record deleted--a not-uncommon ruling in situations involving less-serious offenses or young defendants. But the record remained available from the private firm, which had downloaded and stored it before the judge's order.
So should county court clerks remove all online records? It's not that clear-cut. After all, public records are supposed to be open to all, and online records can be a great convenience for many people. In addition, they're an important resource for the disabled. "If I take [the online records] away," Cissell says, "it's kind of like taking the ramp away from the courthouse."
Cissell is working with state legislators in Ohio to find a balance between unfettered access to court records and the risks that such openness can pose to the privacy of people listed on the records. We can only hope that the compromise they work out will set a national precedent protecting the public's right to know, while preventing the abuses that can result from posting personal data online.
Andrew Brandt is a senior associate editor for PC World. Click here for more Privacy Watch columns.Dreaming of $25,000?
Top Acer Notebooks
Dell Laptop Deals
-
Save Hundreds on Dell's Most Popular Laptop Models
Inspiron, Studio and Studio XPS Models all at Steep Discounts!
Lenovo Laptop Deals
-
Save over $400 on Lenovo Thinkpad T400 Models!
Performance meets portability in T400's lightweight design, switchable graphics and superior power management.
- Save over $400 on Lenovo Thinkpad X200 Models! Engineered to deliver improved mobility, performance, connectivity, energy efficiency, and comfort
People who read this also read:
Privacy Watch
- Will Cloud Computing Kill Privacy? Your private information should remain private regardless of where it might be. But you can’t count on that happening.
Best Prices on Security Software
Norton Internet Security 2010 - 3 UsersPrice: $26.29
Norton Internet Security 2010 - 3 UserPrice: $26.40
Internet Security 2010Price: $27.95
Internet Security 2010Price: $32.97
Norton 360Price: $25.00
Norton 360 - 3-UsersPrice: $43.00
All PCWorld Blogs
- Touchdown! Google's Top Super Bowl Searches What were we looking for online while we watched the game (and the ads)? You may be surprised.
- Windows 7 Just Being Honest About Battery Life Microsoft has looked into reported issues with Windows 7 battery life and determined that users are simply caught off guard by Windows 7 more accurate battery life reporting.
- Rumor: Core i7 Coming Soon to MacBook Pro? Apple's MacBook Pro could receive a Core i7 update if rumors are to be believed.
- Apple iPad Price Cut: Blunder or Brilliance? Is Apple really planning to cut the price of its iPad tablet? We don't know, but one thing is sure: Apple should take price action before sales begin, not after.
- Samsung HDTVs Watch the Big Game in brilliant HD. See top HDTV's from Samsung.
- Perfect Printing Solutions Find just the right All-in-One Printer for you from HP. Visit the HP Resource Center.
- Acer Laptop Center Forget the Mouse...check out the next generation multi-gesture touch screen technology from Acer.
Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage





