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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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I don't know what you think the current system is like, but to a large degree it already is centralized, at least as centralized as it could possibly get using blockchain; what do you think a county recorder's office is for? Computerized records and uniform parcel identifiers have made things a lot easier, at least as far as instruments recorded in the past 20 years or so are concerned. Hell, I'm at a recorder's office right now and I can enter a parcel number into the computer and it will tell me every instrument cross-referenced to that parcel number that was recorded since they started doing these things. And the system is available remotely. If I want to record something in this system I have to follow specific guidelines set by the county to make sure that I actually identify the property correctly, include all the necessary notary stamps, etc. And they will take time to make sure that everything is appropriately indexed and cross-referenced. Switch over to a blockchain that anyone can theoretically edit and now you're going to have every Joe Schmo who has no idea what he's doing entering instruments that only cause more title defects and situations where things aren't appropriately indexed or cross-referenced. If you don't think this will happen, go to your local recorder and ask the clerk for some war stories about people who try to write their own deeds without the assistance from an attorney, or how many people ask about "getting someone's name on the deed", or off the deed. Or go to a recorder's office in rural parts of West Virginia and try to run a title and see how things were done there prior to the 1990s, when clerks would apparently record anything and everything that was presented to them. And this doesn't even get into all the specific oil and gas stuff where things really get wild and wacky.