Any system that is connected to the outside world can be hacked - password protected or not. You would be naive to think otherwise.

Further, I have a bit more concern in the fraud aspect of the business, where there are examiners that use the information they are privy to invest into properties - and that has been going on for years and has nothing to do with online information.

To me, it is a boondoggle to not deal with the fundamental issues that surround public information first. Most notably, how do we limit the information access, or rather, the ease of access?

States like New York (and I am sure others) do not require that you be an attorney to conduct searches. There is no governing body that issues credentials to examiners, so literally ANYONE could say that they are a title abstractor. The counties would have no idea. So now, how does the state go about determining who gets access to what?

David, as I have said before I DO agree with you concerns about information available on the Web, but there is no single clear solution to it, and there is no recourse, as of now, that can be worked toward - aside from repealing FOIA.