Register of Deeds fires back with facts

Not so fast, says Brenda Bell.

The current Register of Deeds, in a phone conversation with the Report this morning, responded to allegations by her Republican challenger, Matt McCall, that she hasn't been proactive in redacting private information from public documents on the Internet (http://thegattonreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/identity-theft-made-easy-in-iredell.html).

As a matter of fact, Bell said, the county has approved funding for the redaction services, and the company that will help has already been hired and paid. "I requested money in this year’s budget to be able to do this project," she said in a press release issued earlier today. "The work has been in progress for several months."

Bell said she has been on top of this issue at least since the N.C. Identity Protection Act was passed in 2005. At that time, private information could be removed from online public records only per a citizen's written request. When the law became effective, Bell said, the Register of Deeds office "put this information out to the public" and also placed an announcement on the Register of Deeds webpage. The website also contains the form for a citizen to request that his or her social-security/drivers' license numbers be removed from the online records. (Go to http://www.co.iredell.nc.us/departments/regdeeds/register.asp then click on "Online Records Search" in the links to the right).

In the past five years, only 18 people have requested to have their personal information removed from the online public documents, Bell said.

The Act was amended in October 2009, giving registers of deeds discretion to scrub personal identifying information from public records on the Internet without a citizen's request.

McCall, Bell's opponent, said the current Register of Deeds "has taken no proactive measures to redact the social-security numbers." He said that he had spoken with Iredell County Manager Joel Mashburn who said that he could not recall Bell approaching the county about appropriating money to have the sensitive information removed from the online public documents.

In an e-mail to the Report yesterday, Mashburn confirmed that he had spoken with McCall. "I did say that I did not recall but that did not mean it did not happen," Mashburn said. "I further stated that I would be glad to review the budget request as far back as I have them to see if I can find anything in writing. At that point," Mashburn said, "Mr. McCall stated that it would not be necessary so I did not pursue."

McCall also said in the press conference that he had spoken with County Commissioner Scott Keadle, who said he would be in favor of allocating money to have the private information removed from online public documents.

But the county has already allocated money for that service, said Bell. And that was confirmed today by Iredell Finance Director, Susan Blumenstein. Responding to a Report inquiry, Blumenstein said that Iredell County Purchase Order No. 222, in the amount of $71,000, was issued on Aug. 31, 2010 to Cott Systems for "Redaction Services."

"The project is currently in process," she added.

Bell, responding to her challenger's accusations that she hasn't been proactive in protecting Iredell citizens' identities, said over the phone today: "I chose not to put anything out there because I don't like to stir up great alarm. Timing is everything."

She stressed the importance for citizens to understand that the removal of social-security and drivers'-license numbers is specific only to online records. "Not to cause further alarm ... (but) the permanent record will stay the same." The law, she said, does not allow registers of deeds to alter permanent public records. "The records in the Register of Deeds Office are public records with some restrictions. We cannot change anything pertaining to the official record."

Bell said the county will examine more than 3.5 million images from 1934 to the present. She said she chose the "basic package," which means "the project will involve staff to complete at some point, and it is certainly not cheap by any means." But the debt, she added, "is being paid for out of the Register of Deeds Technology and Preservation fund and not from tax dollars."

She said a survey of potential cost for the service revealed that prices range from 5-10 cents per image to $2 million for larger counties. And while the state passed the law giving counties discretion in scrubbing personal information from the online documents, it didn't appropriate money for the counties to perform the service. "One of the concerns of the N.C. Association of Registers of Deeds," Bell said, "is that laws are passed with no money being appropriated to fund it for the counties. Some of the smaller counties will never be able to afford to do this."

She said county registers "have to be very careful in choosing companies to do this work" since the information involved is so sensitive.

To further protect Iredell's citizens, Bell said, the Register of Deeds will also soon have software in place to allow people "the means to receive notification if anything is recorded in their names.

"This will be at no cost to the citizens," she said. "We have worked with our computer software company for some time on both of these identity-theft and land-fraud issues."

"I have done everything I believe I should have done," Bell said. " I had chosen to wait until the redaction project was complete and the land-fraud software in place before doing a news release, and I certainly did not want it to look like a political move."

Have concerns or questions? Bell said her office wants to hear from you. Call 704-872-7468.

Identity theft made easy in Iredell

While little may be known about the Iredell County Register of Deeds office, the Republican challenger for the seat has uncovered a potentially huge problem.

Many county residents could be at risk for identity theft because documents – readily available to the public through the Register of Deeds online – include names and social-security numbers.

“This is the perfect-storm type of scenario,” said Matt McCall, the Republican candidate for Iredell County Register of Deeds, who held a press conference yesterday to discuss the identity-protection issues.

The Register of Deeds, according to the county website, “serves as custodian and manager of a large number of public records. These include legal documents such as deeds, deeds of trust, powers of attorney, maps, etc.” The office also issues marriage licenses, certified birth and death certificates and administers oaths to notaries, military discharges and others, the website states.

In a message to citizens, current Register of Deeds Brenda Bell (D) states: “ I appreciate the trust and confidence placed in me by the Iredell County citizens. I am here to provide the office with integrity, completeness, accuracy and efficient safekeeping of the public records.”

But McCall says the Register of Deeds has left some Iredell citizens vulnerable for identity theft – and it's something that while legal, could easily be prevented.

Armed with a stack of public documents divulging the names and social-security numbers of several Iredell County public officials and employees, McCall said: “It's time for the citizens of Iredell County to have a proactive Register of Deeds to make protecting their identities a priority.”

McCall asked the press not to divulge the specific type of document on which the information is listed, in the interest of protecting those peoples' personal information as much as possible. However, he said, finding the social-security numbers of those public officials and employees – including county commissioners, firefighters and police officers – was as simple as logging onto a website as a guest.

McCall said he brought to the press conference only a small representative sample of the people who could be at risk. “There are at least hundreds, if not thousands, of these records online,” he said, adding that the people he found who are most at risk are those whose records were filed between 1989 and 1995.

He said he has begun contacting each public official and employee whose social-security number he found online.

Anyone can request to have their personal information redacted from public documents, per the N.C. Identity Protection Act of 2005, McCall said. Thanks to that Act, citizens can submit a written request – with the book and page number of where their social-security number is exposed – to have their personal information redacted.

“Five years ago, when the law was passed, my opponent should have taken proactive measures to make citizens aware that the exposure was there,” McCall said, adding that Brenda Bell has been Register of Deeds for 20 years.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “most citizens of Iredell County haven't heard of the N.C. Identity Protection Act of 2005. But what they should know is that the very strong possibility is that their social security numbers are unprotected online at the Register of Deeds.”

One year ago, McCall said, the N.C. Identity Protection Act was amended to take the burden out of the hands of citizens to have their personal information redacted. Instead, the amendment gave discretion to registers of deeds to use “character recognition technology” to scrub the personal information from public documents:

N.C. General Statutue 132.1.10(f1) states: “Without a request made pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, a register of deeds or clerk of court may remove from an image or copy of an official record placed on a register of deeds' or clerk of court's Internet Web site available to the general public, or placed on an Internet Web site available to the general public used by a register of deeds or clerk of court to display public records, a person's social security or drivers license number contained in that official record. Registers of deeds and clerks of court may apply optical character recognition technology or other reasonably available technology to official records placed on Internet Web sites available to the general public in order to, in good faith, identify and redact social security and drivers license numbers.”

"We've had the power to remove this information from public records, without the citizens' request, for over a year," McCall told the Report today.

He said in yesterday's press conference that he had contacted another county that had redacted personal information from its public records and paid approximately $34,000 for the entire process. McCall said $34,000 for the Register of Deeds to scrub citizens' personal information off public documents is a relatively small price to pay to protect the county's citizens, especially, he added, when the current Register of Deeds has a $5,000 car allowance.

Iredell County Manager Joel Mashburn said that he could not recall an instance of the current Register of Deeds approaching him or the county about appropriating money to have the information removed from public documents, McCall said.

He said he had also spoken with Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle, who told McCall that he would "absolutely be in favor" of allocating money to have the social-security numbers redacted from easily-accessible public documents.

McCall said today: "As a fiscal conservative, I hate spending money. I want to be as frugal as possible, but this is something that needs to be fixed."

Having the information removed is not mandatory, but “the law says it is up to the office-holders' discretion,” McCall said. “Unfortunately, the current office-holder has taken no proactive measures to redact the social-security numbers.”

He said the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 300,000 North Carolinians fall victim to identity theft every year, and the commission has stated that the worst type of identity theft “is when someone opens an account in your name.” McCall said those victims spend, on average, $1,100 and 60 hours “undoing the damage.”

So while it used to be common practice for social-security numbers to be included on public documents – and it's perfectly within statutes for the records to contain that information – McCall said it just makes sense, with identity theft occurring at an alarming rate across the state, that Iredell's Register of Deeds would have removed that information in the past year that the state has provided her the power to remove it without having to wait on citizens to request the removal.

McCall said he welcomes any questions from Iredell's citizens about how to remove their personal information from the Register of Deeds documents. Call him at 704-662-5115.

Identity protection compromised at Iredell's Register of Deeds?

Matt McCall, Republican candidate for Iredell County Register of Deeds, will be holding a press conference today at 4:30 p.m. at Iredell's GOP Headquarters, 113 Water Street in Statesville, to discuss "identity protection issues with the current Register of Deeds office." Details: call Matt McCall 704-662-5115, Jason Abernethy (Iredell GOP Vice Chairman) 704-902-5804 or Charlton Allen (Iredell GOP Chairman) 704-490-7444.