You Can’t Hide Your Pryin’ Eyes

Real estate voyeurs may soon have more dirt to dish.

Homeowners in Multnomah County might be surprised to hear that sensitive personal information contained in county tax records may soon be accessed online at portlandmaps.com. It’s a move prompted by a recommendation from the county’s assessment and taxation department to make public records more user-friendly. Multnomah County would be the first in the tri-county area to make such data available.

A brief article in the Oregonian highlights some of the privacy concerns surrounding the publishing of information like homeowner name, address, and tax balance. The county recommendation would allow for a search on property address, but would not provide a lookup by name–a safeguard against stalkers, identity thieves, and other miscreants.

As it stands today, interested parties can get this public information by telephone or visit to the assessor’s office. From the Oregonian:

“If in fact it’s a public record, then there is no reason it shouldn’t be as easily accessible as possible,” said Duane Bosworth, a media lawyer and board member with Open Oregon, which fights for greater access to public records. Bosworth, who said he was not speaking for the organization, said he saw no safeguard to providing information over the phone but not the Internet.

I was surprised to see this story buried on the inside of the metro section. Perhaps we are getting numb to our lives being databased and searched. I suppose it’s the trade-off we get for Internet immediacy.

No word as to when the final decision will be reached by the county’s Board of Commissioners.

Photo by Von Hutchins. Used under Creative Commons license.

Technorati Tags: privacy, tax, records, Multnomah, country, portlandmaps, assessor, Portland

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2 comments September 11th, 2006