Wow!! Very well written Ellen! I agree with you totally. Educating the people on what is happening with their records is exactly what is called for. The officials, for the most part were totally unaware and innocently believed the spiels of the vendor sales people. 

Many officials are only now learning they totally lose control of the records once they are placed online. With rare exceptions, the only people proffiting from the bulk sale and bulk distribution of locally held records are outside the jurisdiction. In a few cases we are just now learning their is a money trail between some officials and those who traffic in the online data. The backlash from the people who are being exploited will likely be ugly.