Thanks for reminding me that I can obtain the FIOA for my state on line.  I make a tongue in cheek remark that the
HIB Act  (I think I have that right, the one that we all have to sign when we go to the doctor stating who they have the authority to give your information on to) prohibits my son's college from giving me his grades.  My tongue in cheek remark is that I can't get my son's grades at college, however, anyone can go on line and find out how much I borrowed in equity to send him there. You would think this Act would prohibit the personal information in the registries from being on line.  Sometimes when I am searching a person, I can get so much up close and personal information on him that I can outline his whole life.

In the title industry, once a mortgage document is prepared by the lender it can not be altered by anyone without permission from the lender.  Therefore, many lenders without the client's knowledge or permission include the social security numbers on their documents.  The Registries do not have the authority to blacken out the SS#.  I think that should be changed.  One Registrar I know has big signs at his recording desks that if the document has your SS# be aware that it will be recorded as such and your SS# will be displayed on the world wide web.  Most borrowers do not record their own documents but that is this Registrar's way of notifying his public of the risk that is being taken.

Your identity of the public is right on target.  In my campaign I referred to the public as two separate entities:  The general public and the working public.  The working public accesses the records in the interest of the general public.  In our county the majority of the general public has never stepped foot nor knows why they would want to go into the Register of Deeds office.  I now have a third public to address which is the world wide public.  You are right, I wonder how interested my general public would be if they understood that their personal information is available worldwide.