Fergie's Tech Blog

Update: Florida Residents' Data Exposure a Statewide Problem

Jaikumar Vijayan writes on ComputerWorld:

The Social Security numbers, driver's license information and bank account details belonging to potentially millions of current and former residents of Florida are available to anyone on the Internet because sensitive information has not been redacted from public records being posted on county Web sites.

Although questions about the availability of personal data online initially focused on Broward County, an official there stressed today that all counties in Florida are subject to the same state law. A spot check of other county Web sites today confirmed that sensitive data is easily available through public property records.

In fact, according to Sue Baldwin, director of the Broward County Records Division, counties across the nation face the same issue.

"Land records are public all over the country. This is not a new situation," said Baldwin, adding that the same issue affects "all the counties in Florida ... [and] lots of states."

posted by Fergie @ 4/11/2006 02:10:00 PM