In today’s world, where online transactions are an everyday occurrence, the threat of identity theft can be a concern. Fears were heightened a few weeks ago, when the U.S. Justice Department charged 11 people with orchestrating a global identity theft ring. Here in Wisconsin, the state and a contractor came under fire last year for mailing tax packets that revealed social security numbers. WUWM News Intern Matt Schultz thought he’d test how easy or difficult it is to access personal information, including in downtown Milwaukee.
I started my search on the computer at work. It took me only a few hours to find 30 different social security numbers, all of which were assigned to physicians. One of them, Dr. James Stiehl, lives in Milwaukee, so I gave him a call.
“I do have two different social security numbers for you. One’s corporate and I’m assuming one is your birth one. And the one I have here is XXX-XX-XXXX. That is correct? Yes. Do you have any idea on how I would have gotten this information? Nope.”
Next, I headed to the Register of Deeds Office at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. A clerk showed me how to use the free public terminals to search through deeds, mortgages and bankruptcy files, places I thought I might find social security numbers, but didn't find any there. Larry Eckert is the Deputy Register of Deeds. He says a social security number isn’t on every document.
“The only vital record that has a social security number that the public can see is a death record," says Eckert.
Undaunted I continued my search, and despite Eckert’s assurances, found a wealth of personal information on other documents: people’s signatures, telephone numbers, addresses and social security numbers. One referred to Steve Starz of Franklin. I called to ask him if he knew about these public records.
“You can just go down to the register of deeds and look it up and it actually has your social security number on it. That I did not know. I’m just going to read this number and you can let me know, you can decline to answer. I just want to know if this is your social security number XXX-XX-XXXX. Yeah. Does that surprise you that I found that at the courthouse? Yes, actually it does."
Before lunch I had gained access to thousands of names, social security numbers, addresses and telephone numbers. I asked Deputy Register of Deeds Eckert if there’s a way to remove personal information from the public records so it can’t be stolen and abused.
“I have no idea if there’s a way to change them," Eckert says.
A state government employee says there is a way to purge some personal information. David Tatar manages Wisconsin’s Office of Privacy Protection.
“Most agencies including our own will redact any personal identifiable information to protect the public and we certainly do that on a routine basis. So when it comes to public records, that does not mean that anyone can request that personal information and get it", Tatar says.
But that’s not happening in all communities, based on my searches. Despite the availability of personal information in some government data bases, Paul Stephens says people should not be overly alarmed. Stephens works for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group based in San Diego.
“When you have these documents in a governmental repository and it does require the affirmative step of an individual coming in there looking up the records and then copying down the information or making a copy of the record, that serves somewhat as a deterrent", Stephens says.
Stevens says one thing consumers can do to protect themselves is to place a fraud alert on their credit report with one of the three major credit bureaus. That lets lenders know they must contact you before authorizing a new line of credit. Credit bureaus say this is not a cure-all for identity theft, so citizens should continually monitor their credit reports.
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