Ostergren, who runs a Web site called The Virginia Watchdog, has for the last two and a half years been fighting to keep images of public records off her county's Web site -- and has so far succeeded. Nonetheless, about 14 of the state's 121 counties post images of public records. Several counties in states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, Texas and New York -- including all five boroughs in New York city -- currently post document images with sensitive information on the Web, she said.

Wesley, of Privacy Solutions, said there is a growing awareness of privacy concerns by state officials. Florida, for instance, has enacted a new law that requires county governments to redact all sensitive information from posted images by Jan. 1, 2007. On that date, Florida's county recorders will also have the authority to redact sensitive information from documents before posting them -- something they are forbidden to do now.

County governments in several other states, including Texas, New Jersey, California and Washington, are redacting Social Security numbers and personally identifiable information from public records being posted online. Broward County, for instance, has selected a vendor named Aptitude Solutions Inc. to help automate the process of removing sensitive information from documents, Baldwin said. "I do not know how long the actual process will take, but we intend to comply with the statutory requirements, including deadline."