14 DAY TRIAL // Any person with a computer that is connected to the Internet can access the United Kingdom Land Registry's site and once there, pretending to plan to register for a new house, one can buy a certain type of plan that costs only ?3. Thus the user can access many details on where a certain house is positioned, what land a property includes, who owns it and how much they paid for it. Also, the site reveals a lot of information about peoples' identity, where they live and also hands out information about their houses. All this makes identity theft a lot easier.
The Land Registry people say that this is called "the system's transparency" and that it is a very important part of their attempts to actually fight fraud. As they say, this system is meant to reveal a big part of someone's identity, in order for everyone to know that a certain house is owned by a certain person, so for a possible thief, saying they own that house would be preposterous, though this has not stopped identity thefts before.
Also, the Land Registry people stated through their spokesman that there has been no actual proof that anyone took advantage of the data so easily exposed on the website. They did specify however, that should it be such a case they would look into it. And they have also said that this service has been available in other countries for a longer period of time.
Identity theft is one of the most severe security problems and that's why public documents should be made accessible online, but they should definitely be posted on the Internet in a much safer way. Users should have to prove their need to view the documents and not just be granted access to them since so many criminals are plaguing the Internet.