When Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper signed mortgage documents, he briefly noticed his Social Security number was typed right under his name.

What he didn’t realize at the time was that two years later, the document would end up on the Internet.

The proliferation of public records available at the click of a computer button has some public officials – from the suburbs to the city – on the lookout for identity theft.

Deeds and mortgages do not require Social Security numbers or dates of birth to be filed, yet some lenders still use them. Even attorneys have filed copies of these papers or typed the information into their clients’ public records for the world to see.

In the past, however, these documents were available only after lengthy paper searches made in person.

That is no longer the case. With electronic filings making documents easy to locate and view from anywhere on earth, Suffolk County Clerk Edward Romaine is among those concerned about filing this information unnecessarily.

After Cooper called his own mortgage documents to his attention, Romaine became so concerned about identity theft he testified before the Suffolk County Legislature last month and will do so at the State County Clerks’ meeting next year.

He and other clerks want Albany to pass a law giving permission to county clerks to reject those documents that contain private information.

“We do not have that power now,” he said.