When Democrat challenger John Warren asked voters last year to decide if Figueroa’s modernization had gone too far and placed them at risk, the voters replaced Figueroa with the more security conscious candidate. Warren’s mission to protect citizens from online identity theft received a boost in February when Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an order to online county clerks in Texas that their websites breached Federal and State laws.
Shortly after the AG’s ruling, Warren told the Dallas Morning News,” This is the ammunition I need to support my cause," he said. "Technology is good and helpful. But we (county clerks) have to be a little more careful because of the information we have."
20-year incumbent Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir avoided the issue for 2006. Faced with years of complaints from concerned citizens and Republican challenger James Crabtree, DeBeauvoir pulled the document images off her website last June.
"My obligation as an elected official is to respond to legitimate public concern and to do everything within my authority to protect people now," she said.
Sadly, just one month after DeBeauvoir was re-elected she abandoned her obligation to her constituents in favor of appeasing those outside the jurisdiction who were profiting from Travis County's online records.
Last December, she announced to the press, "Today I am happy to report that we are able to make available approximately 10 million images for the use of our online customers."
DeBeauvoir said that her decision to put the records back online came after an extensive project to remove individual personal information like social security numbers and birthdates the county had previously published online.
But researchers with FindMyId.com, The Virginia Watchdog and News for Public Officials quickly found financial, medical, and Social Security numbers the county failed to find or redact.
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