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ACLU of Virginia challenges new law
A new law scheduled to take effect on July 1 is being challenged by the ACLU of Virginia.
In a recent statement addressing the issue, the ACLU of Virginia said the new statute prohibits public dissemination of public records that contain Social Security numbers — even when the records are obtained from "government Web sites available to anyone."
"The ACLU is an advocate for laws that prevent the government from allowing Social Security numbers to appear on publicly accessible Web sites," said Kent Willis, the organization's executive director. "But when the government puts records online that do contain the numbers, it can't then turn around and prevent the public from disseminating them."
Currently, information pertaining to criminal and civil cases heard in Fauquier County general district and circuit courts are available online through the state's court case information system. The case summaries do not include Social Security numbers or complete dates of birth.
The date on which the new law is scheduled to take effect is also the deadline by which circuit court clerks throughout the state must also make all land records available on the Internet.
Such records generally include deeds and mortgage information. However, the ACLU of Virginia maintains that land records could also include legal judgments such as divorce decrees. Those legal judgments could include Social Security numbers and other personal information.
Gail Barb, clerk of the Fauquier County Circuit Court, said land records will be available as of July 1 via a remote access or paid subscription service similar to that which has been avilalbe to title companies for the past couple of years.
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story...
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