Crescent-News.com - Public records vs. personal privacy

By LISA NICELY

There is an epic battle raging in counties. It's one where both sides are right, and that is causing a headache for many county officials and possible problems for residents. The battle is weighing public records with the need to protect personal information.

It is an issue even the state legislature has not agreed on -- how to protect private information on public documents. Two current bills, House Bill 46 and Senate Bill 6, are being discussed to deal with the issue of identity theft and the protection of public records.

Another bill, HB 279, passed in 2006 and prohibits any document being recorded in a county office to have a personal Social Security number. However, it has some exceptions including documents originating from a court or tax authority, the person allows it to be of record, when it is a nonconsensual lien, or if the item is a publicly recorded document required by federal or state law.

This eliminates documents in county courts and clerk of courts office from this law.

"There's not been a law specifically set up for that (clerk of courts offices)," said Jean Ziegler, Defiance County clerk of courts. "There has been plenty of talk and discussion, but there has been nothing mandated. So that makes it difficult for public officials to figure out how to protect them."

Ziegler said her office has asked area attorneys to eliminate Social Security numbers in cases. When they are needed by the judge, that information should be filed in the judge's private files.

"Now there are some offices that tell us what to do is to redact Social Security numbers before the general public can look at them (on any public document)," she said. "I don't have the manpower or time to look at every filing that comes into my office to make sure there is no Social Security number in it. It makes it a real problem for us to protect the general public."

Ziegler said that her office doesn't place Social Security numbers on any of the docketing records that are inputted on the computers the general public can use. She also isn't pushing the issue of placing files on the Internet.

"I'm not excited about hurrying the issue until a decision is made on the Social Security issue," she said. "I am not going to be responsible for those Social Security numbers out there."

Defiance County Auditor Marlene Goodwin said there is no file containing personal information that appears on any public terminal in her office.

"The information we have on our public terminals, that is mostly real estate, does not have Social Security (numbers) on them," she said, adding there are some records which have private information, like payrolls, but those are not considered public record and are not available to the general public.

In Henry County, court rules have been in place for years to protect private information.

"Several years ago the judges and attorneys in the area put in new court rules and anything with private information is placed in a special file and that is not open to the public," said Judy Sonnenberg, clerk of courts. "It can be searched by an actual motion to the court and then the judge would have to order it to (allow) someone to see it."

Sonnenberg said for many years Social Security numbers have not been placed on docket filings. Her office has been computerized since 1994.

"Prior to that there was no place for them (on documents) so they did not get typed in," she said. "So it is not available and not inputted in the computer."

She added that the balance between documents being public record and protecting individual's privacy has been an ongoing issue for several years.

"Clerks actually have representatives on Supreme Court committees that are working with the public vs. private information issue so that the public can get the information they need, but a person's private information is not available," she said. "They are working to make sure any new laws are compatible to both sides."

At the Paulding County clerk of courts office, individuals can look up records on some public terminals. The Courtview computer software system which her office uses is designed to include third-parties -- the general public -- that can look at files with less information.

"We can get more information at our (terminals) than at the public terminal," said Ann Waldman, clerk of courts. "We have Social Security numbers and other personal information on ours for our records, but the software we have is suppose to not show those on the public terminals."

However, once in a while a few Social Security numbers have popped up on the public terminals. When that occurs, Waldman said the computer company is called right away to fix the problem.

Down the hall at the recorder's office, Sue Thrasher and her staff have been working to balance public records and the need to protect an individual's personal information.

Thankfully, Thrasher said, HB 247 covers most documents in the recorder's office. It also has been determined by the state that documents available online are not official public records and, therefore, Social Security numbers may be masked.

"Of most concern by county recorders are documents that are on record that were recorded prior to this law that contain Social Security numbers," said Thrasher.

On Sept. 13, 2004, her office started an online site. It displayed images of all documents dealing with real estate. On April 17, 2006, she removed the documents from the site.

"We have the capability to go back and mask out Social Security numbers on all the document from 1990 to the present that are available online," said Thrasher. "I am definitely for open public records but I feel, as a county official, accountable to the public."

Approximately 79,000 documents such as deeds, mortgages, leases, liens and powers of attorneys were accessible online. Thrasher plans to have the documents, minus any Social Security numbers, back online by July 1. She said it has been a challenge.

"In the mid-1990s, all of the mortgage institutions had Social Security numbers listed everywhere," she said. "They never thought about Internet access."

She added there is no state law requiring recorders to not list Social Security numbers online.

"I've done it as a courtesy," she said. "I felt it was the best thing to serve the public. We still have the whole document available in-house for those officials that need it."

The Henry County recorder's office also has masked Social Security numbers that are viewable on its Internet site.

"My documents have been available online since Jan. 1, 2003," said Recorder Sara Myles. "I've gone back through those documents and have masked those (Social Security numbers). The only documents we had been receiving at that time with Social Security numbers on them were affidavits terminating interest such as in a death. We'd have the death certificate there then. We do get soldier's discharge forms filed here with Social Security numbers and we mask those." "We have not been told yet as recorders that we need to go back and mask Social Security numbers for every document in our office," she continued. "That would be a monumental task. We have documents going back to 1880s. That would be an impossible task and we would be altering documents we are not allowed to (under public records law)."