SSNs removed from Web

After a meeting with District Attorney Richard Smothermon Monday afternoon, Pottawatomie County Clerk Nancy Bryce said she will temporarily remove from the Internet the information bearing residents’ Social Security numbers.
Last week many residents discovered that their Social Security numbers were visible on a Web site containing Pottawatomie County land documents. Bryce said the site contains the documents as they appear in print form, and that her office has been posting them this way for five or six years.
People expressed frustration and anger over seeing their personal information on the World Wide Web and inquired why it was allowed.
“I have been assured by the district attorney that I have not broken the law,” Bryce said Monday after meeting with Smothermon.
The public land records posted are coordinated through a company called ACS, and the documents are scanned and indexed by the county clerk’s office. The site indexes mortgages, liens, oil and gas leases and other documents of public record exactly as they are received, Bryce said.
Shawnee resident Elmer McCalister said leaving the Social Security numbers on the documents is “totally irresponsible.”
“I can’t believe that they didn’t scrub those documents” before posting them, he said.
Bryce said that by state statute, once a document is on file “it cannot be altered or removed without a court order.”
Bryce said after her Monday meeting with Smothermon, she has decided to temporarily remove the images bearing Social Security numbers from the Web site. The site will still have indexes listed, but the images will not be accessible.
“It will remain that way until I find out what my options are,” she said. “We’re just playing it by ear, day by day.”
Bryce said the move will affect those whose job is to research land mineral rights and oil and gas leases, because all of the information they need will no longer be posted.
“I serve them just like I serve everyone else,” Bryce said, adding that what is helpful to one group may not be helpful to another.
“I want to try to make it work for everyone,” Bryce said.
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Jason Smith may be reached at 214-3932.