EPIC's Verdi, however, said that Ostergren was simply republishing information that was already made public by the state, and even then, only in a highly targeted manner.

Meanwhile, Ostergren, who has temporarily removed documents containing the Social Security numbers of Virginia public figures from her Web site, plans to put the documents back up after she removes any data that might belong to the individuals' spouses or children.

Speaking with Computerworld today, Ostergren said that local governments in Virginia and elsewhere are continuing to post documents containing sensitive data on their Web sites. Any time she finds such documents, she will post them, she said.

"It's amazing that I still have to be at this after seven years," she said.