Of the 47 counties I serve in Texas about 60% use computer indexes and have for at least five years. I would guess about 20% have their images on computer.Most of this 20% still make the docuements available in book form. Of these 47 counties, only two are "advanced" enough to spew the private records of their citizens over the Internet.

There is a difference between computerized and Internet accessible. I have enjoyed the benefits of having the indexes computerized and no one that I know of has suffered from this convenience. The images on computerized systems are not convenient, they are very cumbersome. But if they are not published on the Internet and are made available only at the Courthouse where they were filed they are not a serious risk to the community.

Clerks and Recorders who publish the records online do not serve their communities. Most of the citizens of the community are totally unaware their information is being published worlwide this way. Only the people outside of the Clerk's jurisdicition are best served by this mass worldwide publication. The citizens of the community consented to having their documents filed and viewed within the confines of the communtity. They never consented to the publication of their children's name and address in Bangkok. They gave no consent to have their social security numbers examined and used in Tripoli. The implied and explicit consent was to have their documents available for individual examination by interested parties within the confines of the Courthouse.

When this consential agreement is broken by publishing the documents on the World Wide Webb the community is less secure and the County loses much needed revenue.