Hi David,
Our access in Ohio to online records is free.  The state determined a few years ago that charging for online access to public records was not legal.  All the counties I work have online access, but only Franklin county requires you to establish an account to access the indicies and documents.  I think it is a small step, but better than the other counties we work that do no tracing of who is using the records.
I agree that we need to safeguard the unlimited access to the records online, but I doubt we will ever limit it to the degree we would like to see.  The national underwriters, banks, national law firms, credit agencies, etc., have a vested interest in accessing this information online and will work hard to keep this information easily available to them.
This will probably blow up in the face of  those advocating unregulated and easy access to the public record online, but we may be the losers in the end.  If, and when they do decide to limit access, the small examiner may be left out of the mix.  See you in January,  Doug