Putting records online prompts disagreement
Putting Oklahoma Co. records online prompts disagreement

By John Estus

Published: March 21, 2008

Hundreds of thousands of Social Security numbers were recently removed from property records posted on the Oklahoma County Web site.

County Clerk Carolynn Caudill is proud of the removal, while her opponent in an upcoming election has criticized her for posting the information online in the first place.

State law prevents county clerks from altering documents received by their offices. But because online records aren't official records, Caudill was able to hire a firm in July that found and removed Social Security numbers from about 400,000 of the more than 8 million property records her office has made available to the public on the county Web site.

The numbers were removed a week ago, but her opponent, Stan Inman, said the numbers should've been removed before the documents ever hit the Web.

Inman, a former county commissioner, said he's "pretty hacked off” because he thinks Caudill made the county's Web site a possible resource for identity thieves.

"No she didn't,” said Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma and an Oklahoma State University journalism professor.

Senat said "every study” he has seen shows that public records are not a significant source of identity theft, and Inman admitted he can't prove anyone has had their identity stolen because Caudill had documents with Social Security numbers online.

"I don't think she (Caudill) has done anything unusual,” Senat said.

Social Security numbers are still available on official documents kept in Caudill's office and others.

"Maybe we should be questioning why those numbers are required on the documents in the first place,” Senat said.

Senat also said it is important to note that information such as dates of birth or Social Security numbers are often needed to accurately identify a person.

Inman was the District 3 commissioner in 2005 when Caudill proposed posting her office's records online. The process required scanning millions of pages of records and Caudill regards it as one of her top achievements in office.

She said her office is among only 5 percent of about 3,600 record keepers nationwide that have redacted Social Security numbers from documents posted online.

Caudill accused Inman of distorting her work and playing politics to use her achievements against her.

"He wants to destroy everything that we have done,” she said. "We have been proactive.”

Inman disagreed.

"She knew before she put that information online that she was putting Socials on there,” Inman said. "It's certainly irresponsible.”

Inman said he has no problem with the documents being available online as long as the Social Security numbers are removed from them.

"It can be accessed by legitimate businesspeople who have a legitimate purpose to see it. Then once they see the documents they want, they can go down to the courthouse and get the official documents,” he said.

Inman said he wouldn't have supported putting the documents online when he was a commissioner if he knew Social Security numbers would be available.

Inman and Caudill are Republicans. The Oklahoma County offices primary is July 29, with an Aug. 26 runoff, if needed. The general election is Nov. 4.

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