Ohio secretary of state sued over ID info posted online

Computerworld - An Ohio man is suing the Ohio secretary of state for posting his and other residents’ Social Security numbers for years on state Web sites where publicly searchable records are stored, showing retail purchases made using credit cards or bank loans.

The Social Security numbers are included in online records of purchases of high-ticket items such as boats, garden tractors, furniture or other goods. Such secure purchases are often registered with the state using Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings to protect creditors in the event a buyer does not pay for the merchandise.

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell’s office posts the UCC filings on the Web, and the data sometimes includes Social Security numbers.

A spokeswoman for Blackwell, a Republican, today refused to comment on the matter.

Cincinnati attorney Christian Jenkins, who filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday on behalf of his client, Darrell Estep, of Mount Orab, Ohio, said Blackwell has refused to remove the Social Security numbers and won’t block them so they can’t be read online.

The online UCC forms have been used for years, he said, but they don’t note that the inclusion of the Social Security numbers is optional, he said.

Estep’s UCC forms were filed by his lenders after he purchased a trailer in 2002, flooring for his home in 2003 and a riding mower in 2004 -- all using secured credit, according to the lawsuit. Each of the UCC forms included a space for his Social Security number, which was filled in each time.

“Publishing documents containing individual names and Social Security numbers on the Internet and allowing unfettered, anonymous access to such documents from anywhere in the world creates a serious and high risk of identity theft,” the lawsuit states. Some 10,000 persons may have their Social Security numbers filed in UCCs on the Web site, according to the lawsuit.

The eight-page lawsuit claims that Blackwell violated Estep’s rights to privacy, personal security and due process by posting the information. The suit asks that such information be permanently removed from the site and from other publicly-available records in the agency’s offices.

Jenkins said he filed the lawsuit after Blackwell refused to remove or hide the information online.

Another official, Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss, a Democrat, this week criticized Blackwell on the issue, arguing that he is putting state residents at risk. “This is sensitive information we are dealing with,” she said in a statement yesterday. “Anyone who has access to a computer in any part of the world can tap in and use the numbers to defraud Ohioans.”