The California secretary of state’s office has shut down portions of its website after it was discovered it had been selling hundreds of thousands of public documents containing social security numbers and signatures, a practice that lasted for years. Several other states have also made available materials that reveal personal information, although it’s not clear which, if any, have curbed the policy.

The California secretary’s move came after a state assemblyman called attention to the practice of making Uniform Commercial Code documents, such as those memorializing loans, available online. A spokesman in Assemblyman Dave Jones’s office said of some two million UCC documents online, about one-third, or about 600,000, contained an individual’s name, address, social security number and often signature.