Identity Stolen, Ohio Woman Sues
An Ohio woman is suing the county clerk because her identity was stolen. And it was stolen because an image of a speeding ticket, complete with her personal identification was placed on the Internet at the county website.
Initially, Cynthia Lambert’s case was dismissed and she had no recourse. Her identity was just stolen and that’s all there was to it. But last week she found out she could reinstate her claim. The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, Greg Hartmann, was in violation of Ohio’s Privacy Act when he posted the sensitive information online.
Ms. Lambert received the ticket in September of 2003. The ticket contained her name, driver’s license number, birth date, social security number, address and her signature. That is an Identity thief’s dream come true. All that information could easily be used to take out loans, apply for credit card or open other accounts which can then be used freely without repercussions, as long as they aren’t caught. They usually aren’t. All the defaults become the burden of the person whose identity has been stolen.
Over the past year, two large purchases were made in Ms. Lambert’s name. $12,000 worth of purchases from a Home Depot card in her name, and $8000 of goods from Sam’s club. A driver’s license was shown . . . her license. But there was an error. The officer who issued the ticket was one number off when he wrote down the number of her license, and the license shown at the store was also off one number. Proof it was based on information copied from the county website. A woman who was arrested for identity theft confessed to being involved in an Identity Theft ring that used county websites to get information.
The court found that the clerk didn’t break any laws or act out of malice by posting the speeding ticket, but the act was illegal because the Social Security number was included in the image and put online.
Common sense should dictate here. Ms. Lambert showed evidence that her identity was directly compromised because of the county clerk’s failure to remove personal information before posting the ticket. Florida and California have both made it mandatory to remove or redact data and illegal to post personal information to websites. While there is some benefit in posting information for business purposes, it’s not necessary to include signatures and Social Security numbers in public forums. That’s asking for nothing but trouble.
