D&C pulls punches on Dinolfo Social Security fiasco
The Democrat and Chronicle finally got around to writing an editorial about the County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo’s failure to protect county residents’ Social Security numbers. Predictably enough, it’s weak stuff:
If there’s a gold standard in the expanding world of identity theft in America, it may well be the Social Security number. With it, a thief often can open a bank account, get a credit card, obtain other forms of ID, buy or rent any number of things and, in effect, become the victim. The risks, of course, have multiplied enormously with the growth of the online marketplace.
None of this is lost, presumably, on Monroe County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo, who is now dealing with the knowledge that many court and tax-related documents posted on the clerk’s Web site contain Social Security numbers. Dinolfo and her staff are working hard, she says, to locate the papers and redact the information. She wants to keep the documents available and isn’t removing the databases while the redacting is going on.
[...]
Identity theft, despite the new laws and stiffer penalties, remains all too easy. The best watchdog? You.
Not sure I follow why “You” are the best watch dog against the county releasing your Social Security number to potential criminals. I guess I lack Jim Lawrence’s wisdom.
Related posts:
- Have we forgotten about the County Clerk’s Office posting Social Security numbers on the Internet?
- BREAKING: Social Security Numbers Sitting Unsecured on County Clerk’s Site
- Democrats say Dinolfo warned of breach a year ago
- The loss of your privacy is the cost of doing business at the County Clerk office
- “Insecurity” at the County Clerks’ office makes it to the County Legislature for consideration
The time has come for all good men to come to the aid of their County Clerk. We’re all expected to know how to Google our own social security numbers from time to time, just to see if anything comes up.
I’m not sure that’s what the D&C has in mind, given that they don’t know what Google is.
What about the people who have papers filed on their behalf? They are somehow supposed to know?
Loss of Privacy is the price you pay for doing business with the County Clerk’s office.
Huh. Ya gotta point. I can’t even get a news feed out of those idiots that updates correctly.
You need to give your social security number for many many reasons to many many agencies and private corporations. Want a new bank account? Give them you social security number. How about a divorce? Give your lawyer (and therefore the court system) a social security number. New job? Gotta give them your social security number. Mortgage or loan? Gotta give them your social security number.
So, to follow up on Mr. Lawrence’s “logic”, since according to him, I am the best watchdog, I presume he wants each and every person who has ever given out a social security number to monitor all of the web pages of every corporation and every governmental agency that you deal with to make sure your information isn’t released. Sounds like a full-time job for me.
I don’t even know how to find every web page from the court system or major corporation where my social security number may be hiding, and yet according to Mr. Lawrence, that is what I must do. (By the way, if Mr. Lawrence’s social security number was publicly available somewhere, I think he would change his tune quickly … )
Or we could expect public and private officials to protect information which should remain confidential. I realize that this is considered somewhat unnecessary by Rethuglicans who run things, and I’m hoping (although I don’t see much evidence) that Dems will take steps to make sure there are severe penalties for not safeguarding confidential information.
My understanding is that the documents in question in this instance are mostly in regards to Bankruptcy Court orders, which would have filed on behalf of the bankruptcy debtors. These documents are typically filed to show that a debtors personal real estate (read: home) has been removed as an asset from the BK proceeding, by order of a BK Judge to the Trustee.
Basically, this means the debtor gets to keep his house instead of the court selling it to help pay off other debts, and the filing in the Clerk’s Office essentially puts the world on notice of such. This is often CRUCIAL when the debtor needs to sell or refinance his home in the future. Access to these documents is also crucial for people working in the legal/real estate/title/mortgage lending sectors who need to be able to show that the property was removed from the bk estate. The fact that the SSN is sometimes included is unfortunate to be sure, but the prospect of identity theft is most likely a secondary concern at best for the individuals concerned in these bankruptcy filings.
There are software solutions that will auotmatically remove confidential information such as social security numbers. ‘RapidRedact’ redaction software ( http://www.rapidredact.com ) is one such solution
So it’s okay to steal someone’s SS number as long as they’re bankrupt? Isn’t that kicking someone when they’re down?