Jan,
It's funny that you should mention other countries in this. I first wrote this analogy in response to a regular reader of News for Public Officials. He is a public records researcher from Canada. He told me that Toronto has recently published their records online.Like many of us here, at first he relished in the convenience and and efficiency it brought to his business. He didn't think it could be stopped or that it could possibly be as dangerous in Canada as it is here. I wrote the analogy to illustrate what has happened here in the U.S. as a direct result of the bulk sale and remote access of our "public" records.

Each of the instances I related in the analogy actually happened and were the direct direct result of the public records being released in bulk electronic form. One exception, I don't think anyone really knows where the first copy of the woman's SS # was found, only that eighty one illegal aliens were using using her number. The IRS has wiped out her account including the debt and every thing she had already paid. They have issued her a new social security number so she can start over rebuilding her SS retirement account. Some answer huh?