Drafter
Clerk 06/29/2006
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to on-line access to electronic information containing unique personal data, prohibiting on-line access to deeds of trust filed for record with the King County records, elections and licensing services division, or its predecessor, before January 1, 1995; making technical corrections; amending Ordinance 12550, Section 1, and K.C.C. 2.14.010 and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 2.14.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. Identity theft has become a grave threat to many individuals in our nation. Identity thieves improperly obtain their victims' unique personal data, including social security numbers, dates of birth and mothers' maiden names, and use this data to commit other frauds and crimes. To protect against these harms, many requirements of state and federal law impose obligations on public and private entities to protect the data. It is necessary to reduce the risk of harm posed by use of the Internet for immediate anonymous access to unique personal data. King County is committed to the protection of unique personal data under its control, especially with regards to records that may be available through on-line access.
B. Certain real estate documents filed for record with the records, elections and licensing services division, or its predecessor agency, particularly those filed before January 1, 1995, contain unique personal data that was required by lenders or other parties to the transactions being recorded. The original records with the data are and shall continue to be available for public inspection as required and authorized by state law. The King County records, elections and licensing services division has made a large number of the documents available for immediate anonymous viewing via the Internet. This presents an increased risk of identity theft and requires protective measures.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 12550, Section 1, and K.C.C. 2.14.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms ((shall)) have the meanings set forth ((below:)) in this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
A. "County agency" means any office, division or department of the county assessor, office of the prosecuting attorney, or the executive, legislative or judicial branches.
B. "On-line access" means posting or maintaining of documents on a King County website accessible to the public.
C. "Personal data" means any information concerning a citizen ((which)) that, because of name, identifying number, mark((,)) or description, can be readily associated with a particular individual, including information contained in printouts, forms, written analyses or evaluations.
D. "Unique personal data" means personal data either uniquely associated with an individual such as a social security number or closely associated with an individual such as date of birth or mothers' maiden name.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 3. There is hereby added to K.C.C. chapter 2.14 a new section to read as follows:
Deeds of trust filed for record with the records, elections and licensing division, or its predecessor, before January 1, 1995, are hereby prohibited from on-line access.