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Private Information Is Public Record

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

All the tools a thief needs to steal your identity is just a few clicks away. Thousands of social security numbers are readily available on a Mobile County website. Private Information Is Public Record

Published: Wed, July 02, 2008 - 5:55 pm

Jessica Taloney

When Tonya Taylor looked up a relative's name on the Mobile County Probate Court's website, she was shocked to find their personal information published in black and white for everyone to see.
"They've got her signature, and they've got her social security number," said Taylor, who found the information in an old loan document.
The court's website allows users to search for any name, and if you've ever bought a house or a piece of property in Mobile County, yours is there!
Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis tells News Five when it comes to what information is published, his hands are tied. Davis says his office is obligated by Alabama law to publish mortgages, deeds, incorporations and other documents exactly as they are submitted, so if you're bank or mortgage broker included your social security number, it becomes public record.
"Current Alabama law does not permit a probate judge, anywhere in the state of Alabama, to redact information off a document," said Davis, who has spent the last two years working with lawmakers to address the issue. Davis says the Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill to allow Probate Judges to delete private information, but the measure failed in the Senate. Davis says the legislation was supported by the Alabama Association of Probate Judges and the Alabama Banking Association.
Among the thousands of people who's private information is published on the website, we easily found several high-profile Mobilians, including Mobile Mayor Sam Jones. A spokeswoman for Mayor Jones says he's aware his information is on-line, and he's not happy about it.
To see if your personal information is published on the website, click here and follow the link to "Records Search," then "Search Real Property Records". You'll need to create a log-in and password by clicking on "Register," then you'll have access to all the documents! (Grantor Search*: last name first name)
Judge Davis says one the information is published, there is no way to remove it, but he warns consumers in the future to request to have their social security number deleted before signing documents that will be submitted to the Probate Court.

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KxVx Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 3:10 pm

I appreciate this story because I didn’t know I could easily get the information needed to steal an identity, but now I can!! THANKS!

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rosepetal Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 2:19 pm

carl , you got that right same here. but it is scarey. citibank is a major bank.

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carl Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 2:11 pm

If them jokers got my finacial information they’d probably be sending me money!

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rosepetal Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 1:43 pm

carl, you got that right. look what i just found, think how many people use atm’s.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SAN JOSE, Calif. — Hackers broke into Citibank’s network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers’ PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.

The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars.

no more atm’s for me.

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carl Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 9:11 am

Don’t underestimate the intelligence of most of the identity thieves. They can get your name,address and phone number on line before I can type this in, and they usually have a host of email accounts to use. I too don’t think they should publish or open to the public any personal information. There should be an option for every one to choose to have a hold on their information and to be accessed only by city,county or state employees in the performance of their jobs.

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bd64kcmo Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 8:56 am

Well if it is as hard to do as it was for me, maybe not so easy to get around for identity thieves, or even myself. I have to provide my name and address and phone number. The news item last night made it look like there was an open spreadsheet ready for ID grazing. I do not think personal info should be online if you don’t want it to be. Nonetheless I think this was inadequately researched. My assertion stands that the law that says everything must be public does not necessarily mean it has to be online, AND, privacy laws should be accounted for in the story. Sure it was an eye opener but it remains incomplete, and again seemingly somewhat disingenuous. That is, I felt misled after looking into it.

The next thing to ask is who wrote and passed this law. People need to know who is in their government, otherwise we could lose everything! Perhaps a court could act to render cease and desist orders to the Counties/State.

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carl Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 6:22 am

Registration is nothing to get around and for identity thieves hardly worth mentioning. My wife and me went through all kind of records last night on the site and we were amazed at all the info you could get if you followed all the threads from a name on the lists. I have no doubt you could get credit cards and accounts of all kinds opened in most of the names. This is good JESSICA opened our eyes before the identity thieves found it unknown to us. Now maybe we can control it or stop it. You can bet the vultures will be circling now and identity thief will be on the rise. Sounds like our state senators are working with that LIFE LOCK company doesn’t it? After looking through just a small portion of the records it seems the only safe way is to pay cash for everything and give your name if required as John or Jane Doe.

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bd64kcmo Says:

Thu, Jul 03, 2008 at 1:11 am

Jack Johnson on 07/02/08 - 11:46 pm said, “The Baldwin County Site does not have Registration.
http://www.deltacomputersystems.com/al/al05/drlinkquerya.html
The document files are exact scans of mortgage documents...” This is EXACTLY correct, and I confirmed it just now. WKRG needs to jump on that story immediately and ask the same questions of them as they did the Mobile Co. folks.

Thanks Jack!

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jello biafra Says:

Wed, Jul 02, 2008 at 11:46 pm

The Baldwin County Site does not have Registration.
http://www.deltacomputersystems.com/al/al05/drlinkquerya.html

The document files are exact scans of mortgage documents

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bd64kcmo Says:

Wed, Jul 02, 2008 at 11:33 pm

This report seems somewhat disingenuous. You can’t just go in and sniff. You must submit your info and register beforehand. As of tonight the county website is totally hosed. I cannot register to try and see what of my private info is in there. I can see that as possibly a protective measure by someone in the County government. Is it possible they shut that down in the wake of the WKRG report? If so, bravo for the County. State law may require the County to make the info public, but I DOUBT it requires putting it on the internet! That I would see be a conflict with privacy laws. I don’t understand how the County judge could have answered WKRG the way he did, but it also seems to me WKRG let out a half baked report. The reporter did not describe the registration process (if it indeed existed at the time) nor did she ask a legislator how privacy laws can conflict with other laws such as the one the judge spoke of. ALL local media need to get more serious about reporting ALL facts.

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