Any thoughts on Monday's release of GA-0566 which, in part, discusses the posting of SSNs in court documents on the internet? General Abbott didn't back off of GA-0519 nor did he discuss 42 U.S.C. �405(c)(2)(C)(viii).

If I read the opinion correctly, the AG does not say that SSN's cannot be posted on the internet or that doing so violates any law. It seems that instead that are saying that counties shouldn't do so because it increases the chances of identity theft.

AG Abbott makes a point of stating that their advice goes beyond the limits that the law places on district and county clerks, because the requestor asked whether SSN's should be redacted from documents placed on the internet.

Has the AG ever taken the opportunity in an opinion to suggest what counties should do, as opposed to what they may legally do?

It's what we call a gratuitous advisory opinion.

Seems to me that the wording of that opinion indicates a strong probability that there will be another opinion in the next two years forcing the clerks to pull the information...

Just my (totally busted) crystal ball...

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

Some of our notaries have just learned about 1 TAC Sec. 87.60, eff. 4/22/07, which provides that notaries cannot put DL or SS numbers in their notary books. A posting on TexasNotary.com indicates this is because notary books are public record. Guess no one told the rulesmakers that notaries should just redact the numbers.