The Virginia Watchdog

This part of the 2005 Identity theft Protection Act took effect on Dec. 1, 2005 in North Carolina. However, there are Clerks and Registers of Deeds who do not have the warning described in paragraph (g) on their websites. Here are websites with the appropriate notice.

Social Security numbers are still all over these websites if you know where to look on mortgage documents for one example.

Section 4 Chapter 132-1.8 g 2 says

(g) A register of deeds or clerk of court shall immediately and conspicuously post signs throughout his or her offices for public viewing and shall immediately and conspicuously post a notice on any Internet Web site available to the general public used by a register of deeds or clerk of court a notice stating, in substantially similar form, the following:

(1) Any person preparing or filing a document for recordation or filing in the official records may not include a social security, employer taxpayer identification, drivers license, state identification, passport, checking account, savings account, credit card, or debit card number, or personal identification (PIN) code or passwords in the document, unless expressly required by law or court order, adopted by the State Registrar on records of vital events, or redacted so that no more than the last four digits of the identification number is included.

(2) Any person has a right to request a register of deeds or clerk of court to remove, from an image or copy of an official record placed on a register of deeds' or clerk of court's Internet Web site available to the general public or on an Internet Web site available to the general public used by a register of deeds or clerk of court to display public records, any social security, employer taxpayer identification, drivers license, state identification, passport, checking account, savings account, credit card, or debit card number, or personal identification (PIN) code or passwords contained in an official record. The request must be made in writing and delivered by mail, facsimile, or electronic transmission, or delivered in person, to the register of deeds or clerk of court. The request must specify the personal information to be redacted, information that identifies the document that contains the personal information and unique information that identifies the location within the document that contains the social security, employer taxpayer identification, drivers license, state identification, passport, checking account, savings account, credit card, or debit card number, or personal identification (PIN) code or passwords to be redacted. No fee will be charged for the redaction pursuant to such a request. Any person who requests a redaction without proper authority to do so shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each violation.

The whole law can be found at this link http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2005/Bills/Senate/HTML/S1048v5.html

Note however that this law does NOT allow the NC Secretary of State to remove SSNs off of the UCCs on her website. The N.C. legislators overlooked that site as a source of thousands of SSNs.