Released: April 24, 2006

States eye data threat

Source: By Jon Swartz, USA Today

States across the USA are furiously removing sensitive data from official websites.
The task highlights challenges facing states with sites full of personal information on residents, from Social Security numbers to bank account numbers.

Such data is available in Florida, Ohio and at least a dozen others, say privacy experts who provided USA Today with links to public websites. Many state laws require property records be posted online in the interest of open government.

Once, the data was confined to books in state offices, says Daniel Solove, a privacy law professor at George Washington University. “As data is made available online, it becomes a privacy concern,” he says.

It can take months to remove SSNs and other data, say privacy advocates such as David Bloys, a retired private investigator in Texas. In the interim, identity thieves could cherry-pick data, he says. What officials are doing:

• Redaction. At least six states use redaction software, which digitally erases information. It can be tailored to excise nine-digit entries such as SSNs.

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