Earlier this year, I produced a video toillustrate toconsumers how easily their sensitive information, such as a Social Security Number, can be obtained from local government Web sites. Most local government's don't care, and they'd rather fight to continue to putus at risk than to protect the information we have entrusted to them.

I posted this video on YouTube last January.The video was viewed by thousands of consumers. Many supportive comments were posted, and most consumers were appalled to learnthat their personal information could be obtained both legally and easily by anyone with an Internet connection. I hope that manythe consumers that viewed the videotook action by writing to their local elected officials to request that they discontinue this negligent and irresponsible practice of allowing anyone from anywhere to access our most private information.

One person disagreed with the approach of exposing local government. They wrote the following complaint to YouTube:

"I flagged this vid as "other dangerous acts"

I wouldn't be illogical if I thought it a good idea to check this guy out seriously. I feel it is highly possible he is a hacker in disguise. i could be wrong, but this type of video telling people literally how to "steal" public records should be bannable.

The news was just stupid for broadcasting easy targets. This guy is potentially stealing it himself."

Based on thisone viewer's comment, YouTube removed the video for violation of terms.As FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly would ask, "pinheads or patriots? You make the call!"

A few viewers have been concerned that the video may proliferate identity theft by educating the thieves. This is akin to saying that exposing fraud in government willencourage dishonest government employees to commit fraud.The fact is, the thieves already know this easy and legal source of personal information, but you, the consumer does not.

The Federal Government has been warning local government and states of this problem for years, but only a handfull of states like California, Illinois and Indiana have taken action to stop this practice. One could say the government reports warning local governments that posting information on the net puts consumers in danger of identity theft, simply alerts identity theives of the problem.

Here's the bottom line. If you don't like the video or the government reports exposing these practices, then take action by writing to your State Senator, State Representative, County Representativesor other local elected officialsand asking them to stopthis practice in your state.

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