[Iron Crab]

Anyone out there have anything like this.

Our local goverment has put our homes on the Net for all to access.
You can now get everything down to a picture of our homes, land area, value, measurements, specs., address, ect....
I have gone to the courthouse to find out who owns land that I had an interest in buying but to be able to sort of "spy" on anyone this easy seems a little weird.

Bill

[Ninong]

Interesting question. Everything they have is a matter of public record, so from their point of view they are just making it more accessible to the public. Probably something that will require feedback from the public to let them know whether it is something the public appreciates or not. If they are elected officials, they will probably be receptive to feedback. If they are appointed officials, the elected official who appointed them will be receptive to feedback. And if they are civil service, forget it.

Something a little bit similar came up in California about ten years or so ago. Remember the Teresa Saldana case? Some stalker got her home address from DMV. He paid her a visit and slashed her face. Up until that time DMV would give out the information they had in their files on vehicle registrations, driver's license information, etc., to anyone who inquired. They even made this information available in printed form and sold it to car dealerships and other interested vendors for commercial use.

Following that incident, a law was passed making it illegal for them to give out that sort of information. So the DMV no longer sells that information for commercial purposes. It is possible for certain employees of a dealership to access the DMV computer to verify vehicle registration information and driver's license information but you have to be registered first and every time you access their computer you are certifying under penalty of the law that you are doing so for a legitimate purpose and that the information will not be passed on to unauthorized individuals. (Sales solicitations are not considered a legitimate purpose.) Most dealerships have terminals connected to DMV so that they can verify vehicle ownership, past due registration fees and/or penalties, etc., before taking in a used car in trade or buying one from someone who just drove up off the street. It tells you if there is a leinholder or not and tells you the name and address of the registered owner. You would be surprised how many people try to trade in or sell outright cars that do not even belong to them. Lots of times it is the girlfriend's car or the grandma's car or even a stolen car.

Ninong

P.S. -- One of the dumbest things that I can think of is states that use the person's social security number for their driver's license number. Then when you hand your driver's license to someone for identification purposes they have everything they need to set up a stolen identity: Name, address, date of birth, social security number, even the weight, height, and color of eyes. The key ingredient there is the social security number.

[schrocat]

IC,
We have the same situation here in Florida. But I haven't encountered the property photo option. That seems like a waste of resources and uneccesary database building IMO.

If it were here, they'd most likely use the photos for building permit enforcement.
I can see the form letters now:

Dear Landowner,
Please take note of enclosed photos.
Your existing porch isn't pictured in our dossier of your residence.
Unfortunately, we have no building permit on file.
Please use the enclosed envelope to mail a fine of 3,000.00 to the newly established Internet County Code Enforcement Dept.

Have a great day,