The Democratic challenger seeking Cheryl DiNolfo’s post as county clerk contends that thousands of social security numbers are available to the public through the county clerk’s Web site. Tom Hasman held a press conference this afternoon, calling on the county to remove the information from its site immediately. “In an era when identity theft is one of the fastest growing threats to individual and national security, it is inconceivable that a breach of this kind could have occurred in our county clerk's office,” said Hasman. The documents are filed under order to abandon, which includes people who have filed for bankruptcy. County Clerk Cheryl DiNolfo responded by saying that the records are public documents. DiNolfo said she is not required to put the records online, but she is required to provide them if someone files a Freedom of Information request. "Certainly, there is no requirement to post those documents online," DiNolfo said. But she didn't say the documents would be removed. She added that when someone files a document that includes a social security number, the office asks them to remove it. If they decline, they must sign a waiver. Additionally, DiNolfo said, older documents filed by Bankruptcy Court included social security numbers but newer documents do not. After about 2004, it appears the documents no longer contained social security numbers. However, DiNolfo added, she is currently using software that has the ab ...
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The Democratic challenger seeking Cheryl DiNolfo’s post as county clerk contends that thousands of social security numbers are available to the public through the county clerk’s Web site. Tom Hasman held a press conference this afternoon, calling on the county to remove the information from its site immediately. “In an era when identity theft is one of the fastest growing threats to individual and national security, it is inconceivable that a breach of this kind could have occurred in our county clerk's office,” said Hasman. The documents are filed under order to abandon, which includes people who have filed for bankruptcy. County Clerk Cheryl DiNolfo responded by saying that the records are public documents. DiNolfo said she is not required to put the records online, but she is required to provide them if someone files a Freedom of Information request. "Certainly, there is no requirement to post those documents online," DiNolfo said. But she didn't say the documents would be removed. She added that when someone files a document that includes a social security number, the office asks them to remove it. If they decline, they must sign a waiver. Additionally, DiNolfo said, older documents filed by Bankruptcy Court included social security numbers but newer documents do not. After about 2004, it appears the documents no longer contained social security numbers. However, DiNolfo added, she is currently using software that has the ab ...