The fact that Fort Bend county has become a focus in the latest controversy is because it failed to act on some of the issues mentioned in MacKoul's report, said David Bloys a retired private investigator who publishes a newsletter called "News for Public Officials" in Shallowater, Texas.

Bloys has been chronicling privacy breaches at county government Web sites in Texas and other states and has been critical of the way Fort Bend handled the issue. "It appears that if the county clerk had taken some of the recommendations in the report seriously, much of the current problem would not exist. Instead, she ignored the recommendations," he said.

Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers said that he has opposed the county's practice of posting confidential information. "People do not know that their personal information is included in a document that is posted on the Internet," he said. They have not been given any notification in the past that their Social Security numbers and other confidential information would be posted in public records on the Internet and therefore have a reasonable expectation that it will be kept private, Meyers said.

So far though, he has been unable to stop the clerk from posting the information, he said. "The county clerk disagreed with me. She said she had the authority to do so," Meyers said. "I still have been unable to find under state law where she has the authority to post anything on the Internet."

With Abbot's ruling still set to take effect in 60 days, a vote by by two-thirds of both the House and the Senate is needed for Keffer's bill to become effective immediately, he said. "I don't know if they have the two-third votes," he said. "The question is whether [legislators] are going to want to vote on making it legal to post Social Security numbers and other confidential information to the public Web," he said, "I am not sure they are going to vote for that."