

This was a daunting and time-consuming task therefore, not many people viewed public records, and the information on any single record was generally not sufficient to cause an individual any harm. What threats do online public records create?īefore states started putting public records online in the mid-1990s, accessing these records meant either mailing out written requests or going to government offices in person. However, once a record is public, there are few rules about what individuals or organizations can do with this data. These records often contain a great deal of personal information. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.While the types of records that are considered public can vary due to state laws, they usually include: What are the main types of public records? In this article, we’ll clarify the main types of public records, spell out some of the threats they cause, and provide you with a five-step process to protect yourself.

With digitization, a host of privacy and security problems have arisen around public records. These public records are not a new phenomenon, but the ease of accessing them on the internet is. It’s because the law requires that certain types of records be made available for the greater public good.

You may wonder why so much personally identifiable information about you is accessible in these online public records. Public records, many of them now available online, are government documents that anyone can legally view. You can remove or greatly reduce access to your online public records, and the personal information that they contain, by following the five-step process below. This post has been modified to reflect new information since its original publication.
