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Online Records May Aid ID Theft
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"I don't like it. I don't like it at all," said the court's clerk, Judith S. Waddell. "Would you like your Social Security number being disclosed to the public? I know I wouldn't."
A one-hour search of Maryland's land records Web site found the Social Security numbers and signatures of two dozen property owners.
"It's alarming, because the government should be setting the example in really trying to protect people's private information," said state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery). "Look, there's a whole criminal underground now that thrives on stealing people's credit cards and usurping their identity for as long as they can."
A 15-minute search on the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation Web site found Social Security numbers on statements filed by creditors who had financed purchases by four consumers in Waldorf, Cambridge, Bowie and Landover in 2003 and 2004.
A dozen more numbers, including former secretary of state Powell's, turned up on a Fairfax County site that requires a $25 monthly subscription fee. Powell, in an e-mail, declined to comment.
A Texas land records site had the Social Security number of Aikman, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback. Aikman, a Fox Sports analyst, declined through a Fox spokesman to comment.
Although it's rare to find the numbers in new criminal court filings in Maryland and the District, they often appear on summonses and arrest warrants in Virginia.
Typical is the Nov. 13 summons issued to a Sterling woman charged with failing to register her dog, a gray Shih Tzu named Puzzle, which had been declared dangerous. In addition to her name and Social Security number, the one-page document -- filed in Loudoun General District Court -- listed her home address, birth date, race, driver's license number, eye and hair color, height and weight.
"With that information, an identity thief could open up new accounts in her name," said Betsy Broder, an identity fraud expert with the Federal Trade Commission, "because the identity thief has virtually all the information that he or she needs to open up a credit card account, seek employment if they don't have legal status in this country, apply for a driver's license or, if they are arrested for some crime, use this other person's identity as their own."
The Social Security number of another Loudoun defendant, charged with stealing a mountain bike and then failing to appear in court, was found on seven documents in his case file.
"This is an issue the General Assembly needs to look at," said Loudoun Circuit Court Clerk Gary M. Clemens, president of the Virginia Court Clerks' Association.
Identity fraud has been around for centuries. But widespread use of credit cards and the growth of the Internet have fueled a plague that costs businesses and consumers billions of dollars a year.
