A recent article in the Economist highlighted a major problem of record keeping is the financial services industry.  http://www.economist.com/node/17257787?story_id=17257787

Its not just a matter of poor record keeping which needs to be fixed.  But a case of inaccessible documents which may be needed to enforce legal rights.  A recent article in the Los Angeles Times highlighted a second aspect of this, e.g. the use of MERS to basically privatize real estate records.  States are beginning to complain about being deprived of filing fees.)  See http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mortgage-foreclosure-20101021,0,4933760.story

MERS response to some of the negative publicity is available here http://www.mersinc.org/newsroom/press_details.aspx?id=245

As one can see from this article there are potentially quite large sums at stake and no one can know what the future has in store.  But  as a record keeping professional I cannot help but wondering if this is a perfect record management storm.

Are we seeing the 3 mile island of records management right before our eyes?

Have dramatic shifts in risk, risk tolerance, and  economic stresses collided with sub standard record keeping practices & arrangements for the transformation of public records into private ones -- not by outsourcing of a government agency?

Does this situation call for a reevaluation of records management's return on investment or is this simple a case of confusing uncertainty with risk and that when things go wrong they may go very wrong?

David B. Gaynon
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Huntington Beach CA, USA



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