Private Investigator Public Records Internet Search Privacy Reporting - PI Buzz

Government agencies won’t put public records on the Internet but the former Santa Bernardino County Assessor found a technological runaround to making his emails a public record.

A private investigator and the former supervisor of the Worthless Check Division in the St.Tammany (Louisiana) District Attorney’s Office were sentenced to three years’ probation for buying and selling criminal information from the National Crime Information Center database. The DA employee got the heavier sentence — she also lost her job.

Nebraska Supreme Court ruling: Burial records from a state run cemetery are a public record. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) claimed that the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) applied because the cemetery was for residents at a former psychiatric hospital. But the court noted that HIPAA allows for the disclosure of protected health information when required by state law, and that Nebraska’s public records laws trumped HIPAA because these are death records, which are open records. Reported by RCFP.

Texas media, private investigators and genealogists are opposing the efforts of the Texas legislature to exempt the dates of birth of government employees from disclosure as a public record. The media has uncovered misdeeds by employees of the Texas Youth Commission — matching dates of birth with employee names — involving abuse of people and the public trust. Shielding dates of birth in public records does not protect the public from identity theft, as legislatures claim when attempting to carve out more public record exemptions.

The phrase “personal information” and “identity theft” have become so intertwined that legislatures have rushed to implement laws which have detrimental outcomes for investigations. Recently codified New York law would subject employers to a $500 penalty for disclosing “personal identifying information” on employees. This will have a chilling effect on release by employers of other information on current or past employees, such as name and job title. This is reminiscent of the California legislature’s failed attempt in 2007 to penalize the release of “personal information about a customer or employee contained in the records of a business…”

It is now a violation of New York law to,

Communicate an employee’s personal identifying information to the general public. For purposes of this section, “personal identifying information” shall include social security number, home address or telephone number, personal electronic mail address, Internet identification name or password, parent’s surname prior to marriage, or drivers’ license number.

Hat Tip: Lexology

A new feature has been introduced at the most popular social networking site, Facebook — which it’s calling Truescoop –, a name search that identifies people by their state of residence and date of birth and, for some, criminal record history. Get more tailored results by qualifying your name search with the person’s year of birth or full date of birth. Nothing at the site spells out the source of the data, but Facebook warns that this is an application merely for fun.

TrueScoop is for entertainment only. TrueScoop is not a substitute for a background check that you would pay money for.

TrueScoop should not be used to make any employment decisions. TrueScoop is not to be used for any reason covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) or any state or Federal laws related to the FCRA.

TrueScoop is a criminal history check similar to that at Criminal Searches. Both aggregate criminal records index information that is available for free online from state and county government court sites. Each display their data differently so you might find one format more usable. The data varies between individual records on each site; sometimes only one site will list AKAs, but then the other site will do so for other records. Sometimes Facebook identifies the local court in which the charge was filed but not the court docket number, and Criminal Searches gives the court number but not the local jurisdiction, but it’s not consistent within or between the sites. Comprende? Mix and match, if you can! The best advise might be to head to the court Web site once you find a lead from either of these other applications. Locate courts and lots of other public records through a fee-based service, this free-trial site or at the free sites offered by BRB Publications or Online Searches.

TrueScoop also shows names that have been searched by others and the number of times. Select the name link to populate the search field and get record results. A name search may also return records of unclaimed money and sex offenders (with photos), in addition to the state locator showing date of birth.

A Facebook account is required to use TrueScoop, but this application is separate from Facebook and there’s no link between it and Facebook profiles.

Mashable writes, TrueScoop Offers Free Public Record Search on Facebook.

The Iowa legislature is chewing over the notion that open government records may be responsible for identity theft and should be restricted. The Identity Theft Prevention Study Committee met last month and developed a collection of recommendations, including redacting certain “personal information” — that fuzzy term has yet to be defined — in public records. One of the panelists, Dan Combs of The Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access , a consortium of commercial public records aggregators, argued that redaction of public records is ineffectual and misses the supposed objective of curtailing “identity theft”, another fuzzy term. The Coalition site has position papers and summaries on public records access, such as this one on the important uses of the Social Security number by businesses and government.

What other constructive uses of the SSN identifier would you add?

Now, head down to Arizona where the Phoenix City Attorney has advised the police department to restrict disclosure of police records on the handy claim that thieves are scouring public records for personal information. The police department will start redacting victim names, birth dates of suspects AND those who are convicted and sitting in jail, and the addresses where crimes are committed. The dictum is being unevenly enforced, different types of data being excised, or not at all. Phoenix may expand this scattered policy to include code enforcement records. Which state law is this suppose to comport with?

Alaska is purported to have instituted one of the strongest identity theft protection laws through HB 25.

Although the bill sets out restrictions on the collection, sale and distribution to third parties of Social Security numbers, the exceptions should cover the normal course of business for private investigators.

A transfer of an individual’s social security number for the sole purpose of identifying a person about whom a report or database check is ordered, received, or provided is not a sale, lease, loan, trade, or rental of a social security number under this section.

Providing your clients an individual’s social security number is permitted if the purpose is regulated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act or by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Disclosure is permissible if it’s “for a background check on the individual, identity verification, fraud prevention, medical treatment, law enforcement or other government purposes, or the individual’s employment, including employment benefits.”

Also, the police department may create a database of identity theft victims. If it does, it “shall provide a victim or the victim’s authorized representative access to a data base established under this section to establish that the individual has been a victim of identity theft. Access to the a data base established under this section is limited to criminal justice agencies, victims of identity theft, and individuals and agencies authorized by the victims.”

The FTC reached an agreement on Wednesday for $600,000 in settlements and judgments against several private investigators others involved in the Hewlett-Packard Co. boardroom scandal.

The FTC settlement imposed a $67,000 penalty against Matthew DePante, his father, Joseph DePante, and their now-defunct company, Action Research Group Inc., which was based in Clearwater, Fla. All but $3,000 was suspended due to their inability to pay.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando division, also entered default judgments against DePante’s subcontractors, Bryan Wagner, who must pay $428,085, and Cassandra Selvage and her company, Eye in the Sky Investigations Inc., who must pay $110,762.

More details on this topic can be found at the FTC website as well as other published articles. You can read the actual FTC complaints here.

What are your comments on this topic?

Jimmie Mesis, Editor-in-Chief
PI Magazine

Impersonating someone to a government agency or hiring another to carry out this ruse could result in a criminal prosecution.

The operators of BNT Investigations, which was not licensed in Washington state, where they were based, plead guilty to crimes that carry a minimum 2-year sentence. They “assumed the individuals’ identities and persuaded government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and state labor departments to hand over tax, wage and other confidential records.” Private investigators from various states who submitted personally identifying information to the firm were also indicted and are still awaiting trial.

Private investigators, insurance companies and attorneys who hire others obtain personal information should confirm that they do not get unauthorized personal information from a government agency. Other laws invoke penalties for using subterfuge (not necessarily impersonating the subject) to secure telephone records from the provider or financial information from banks and account holders. Our clients don’t necessarily know this. It’s our job to educate them.

Data reseller USSearch.com will pay $250,000 for accessing and selling non-public personally identifiable information obtained from credit bureaus. The New York Attorney General determined that US Search illegally accessed the consumer information more than 2,385 times. If they sold each report for 100 bucks that would just cover the fine and penalties. Then there’s the litigation costs…

Selected Laws Governing the Disclosure of
Customer Phone Records by Telecommunications
Carriers, a recently released Congressional Research Service report, summarizes the laws, legislation and congressional actions related to telephone call log records. The Federation of American Scientists has a database of some of these CRS reports, which are selectively released by members of Congress.

The online telephone directory, 411.com isn’t just for finding listed telephone numbers. Use it to identify current employment or to expand the employment history profile of your subject. A search on my name in California returned 40 results. Some are home listings, but other records are work contacts. These are extracted from the Internet - Web pages and Zoominfo - and may supplement the business associations found at various other people finder sites.

Google the work designation “Mt Diablo Soccer League” to find a photo, phone number and email for this Tamara Thompson.

Most of the free lookup, fee-based people finder sites - PeopleFinders, Voompeople, Privateeye, to name a few, - contain the same data, although those may list corporation and DBA records not found at 411.com.

The recent proposal by the governor of Connecticut requiring that these sites offer a blanket opt-out to residents likely won’t get legal traction. The Internet people finder databases and telephone directories already have opt-out procedures, and their information is gathered from government public records and published directories. Governor Rell has stated that this measure would address safety concerns for the elderly, who are often targeted in financial scams.

This 1 1/2 day workshop starts at 8:30am and will be Webcast. The agenda of topics and speakers from government and commerce, and professional and advocacy groups, is prominently sprinkled with privacy activists who take absolutist positions against access by private investigators to credit bureau and government records that contain Social Security numbers. However, there are 338 comments submitted by the public, many of them are accounts by private investigators of the critical use of Social Security numbers to solve crimes, find people, break fraud rings and verify employment backgrounds.

Robert Townsend of the National Association of Legal Investigators is on the 1:45pm panel on Monday.

On December 10 and 11, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission will host a public workshop, “Security in Numbers: SSNs and ID Theft,” to explore the uses of Social Security numbers in the private sector and the role of SSNs in identity theft. This workshop continues the work of the President’s Identity Theft Task Force, and, in particular, its recommendation to explore ways to reduce unnecessary uses of the SSN. The workshop will provide a forum for public-sector, private-sector, and consumer representatives to discuss the various uses of SSNs by the private sector, the necessity of those uses, alternatives available, the challenges faced by the private sector in moving away from using SSNs, and how SSNs are obtained and used by identity thieves. The workshop will be free and open to the public.

While you’re viewing the video, read through the November 2007 Federal Trade Commission document, Staff Summary of Comments and Information Received Regarding the Private Sector’s Use of Social Security Numbers.

The profile you proudly blast across the Internet today may be one that makes you cringe tomorrow. Perhaps this is more the case as the general use of the Internet grows out of adolescence. You need not quake because for every Web faux pas there is a fee-based solution. DefendMyName claims to “replace negative Internet postings with positive information about you or your business” and to elevate your propaganda above the negative portrayals found through the search engines. Essentially, this service finds relevant social networking sites and adds your profile, and posts your personal image press release on relevant business and industry forums.

ReputationDefender speaks to the fear of the job seeker or parent that there may be some virtual image that needs cleansing. After they find these declarations (much of that, no doubt, created by the subject), reputationdefender sets about contacting “third parties, including creators of unwelcome content, hosts of unwelcome content, and other parties who might have control or authority over such content.” The User Agreement addresses any inclination you may have to engage this service targeting someone other than yourself. Search engine optimization is a more technical phrase for much of what these companies do. Here’s another one.

I guess I can classify my work as reputation research, which I do on behalf of others, not for the purpose of scrubbing an online image but to build a biography of admissions and activities. Researchers and investigators have always done this, but the popularity of the Internet has opened an area of specialized research. Social networking sites, which have been mined by companies for background on potential hires, have also connected people who want to find each other.

Authenticating found material may be difficult due to the anonymous uses of the Internet. Inevitably, people will use this shield to present favorable views of themselves while disguised in a persona. Be warned: Those who “anonymously” say nasty things about others may be uncovered and sued. The ability to alter digital content could have important implications for the dissemination and identification of official government documents and information.

Getting concrete about the work of uncovering reputation for professional uses, the authors of, Finding and Researching Experts and Their Testimony, offer a detailed guide to finding background and verifying credentials of various types of experts. Some of the sources discussed are: use of search engines, expert directories, the expert’s Web site, licensing boards, publications, news, discussion board posts, court dockets and other public records.

An older set of articles on researching people on the Internet is a good introduction.

Various sources for finding background on people are listed at People Finder Guide.

The well established may disappear overnight in the realm of online government records. Visitors to the Jefferson County, Alabama Probate Court online records search - the site for images of land records, personal property and probate recordings - were recently greeted by an unwelcome message.

Due to privacy concerns, this site is unavailable until further notice. Data is still available at the Jefferson County Probate offices.

A reporter alerted the county to the availability of Social Security numbers in some document images - mostly older UCC filings - which were not properly redacted. The site is completely down until all the SSNs can be removed.

California legislation that would have restored the public’s right to view police disciplinary information has apparently been derailed before being heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee. The California Progress Report gives a detailed review.

The San Mateo County, California Court site has posted a Standing Order restricting personal data in court filings, in accordance with the California Rules of Court. Personal identifiers should be limited to the last 4 digits of the Social Security number, the year of birth, and initials for minor children.

Adoptees received some good news in a bill signed by the governor of Maine. Starting January 1, 2009 anyone adopted in Maine gains the right to their original birth certificate. Only 3 other states have unlocked adoption records that were formerly closed.

In the ever new species of state registries the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has sprouted the Dangerous Dog Registry!

The Dangerous Dog Registry provides a mechanism for consumers to determine if dangerous dogs reside in their neighborhoods and for local animal control officials to post information about dogs that have been declared dangerous by the local court.

The Work Number has added the U.S. Postal Service to its roster of employers that have employment and salary verifications listed at this online service. Search by current or former employee name and Social Security number to receive dates of employment, salary and job title for 820,000 active and inactive postal employees.

Over 70 employers have been added to The Work Number as a result of the merger with the employment verification service EVS. View a list of all employers or search by first word letter to identify participating companies.

The instant verifications - subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act - are used for mortgage, credit card and other loan applications as well as to check references on job applicants, prospective tenants and people applying for government-sponsored social service programs.

See the recently added category - What’s New At… - in the left sidebar, which includes a link to the collection of databases assembled by the Asbury Park Press. Just online is the salary database of 2006 federal employees. Search by name or agency to find their salary. Not all government employees are included.

Employees involved in security work, FBI, CIA, defense department, nuclear materials, and other jobs essential to national security are excluded. The list contains most executive branch employees but does not cover the White House, Congress, the Postal Service and independent agencies and commissions.

Dust is being stirred up over the Michigan employees salary online database. Some folks in government have forgotten that they’re working for the rest of us, that transparency is critical for good government. Unfortunately, they don’t see the advantage of knowing the income of similarly employed co-workers.

The online Iowa State Employee Salary Book is searchable by name from 1993 to the present.

South Dakota’s governor is still claiming that government employee names and rate of pay are not public records.

A federal legislative hearing spotlighted (once again) the widespread display of Social Security numbers in public records.Various speakers at the recent House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security discussed the problems of identity theft. Justin Yurek of ID Watchdog, recommended that Social Security numbers should be removed from all public records and should never be sold to unaffiliated 3rd parties for any reason.

The summary of the Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, Social Security Numbers: Use is Widespread and Protection Could be Improved notes that information resellers have few restrictions on their ability to obtain and sell public records, including Social Security numbers. The full report advises the IRS and Attorney General establish a policy of truncating Social Security numbers on all lien filings and notices.

Sen. Charles Schumer pointed to the differing strategies in masking Social Security numbers in online government and private company databases.

First, we need to have uniform standards for protecting Social Security numbers by hiding either the first five digits or the last four digits.

The good news is that federal agencies have started hiding the first five digits of Social Security numbers in public record documents. The very bad news is that data brokers and other entities are going in the opposite direction of hiding the last four digits.

…

This makes it very easy to use public sources to piece together a full nine-digit Social Security number that could be used for identity theft. The GAO was able to do this in just one hour, from their desks. An identity thief could do the exact same thing – from anywhere in the world.

Perhaps of concern to reporters, investigators and attorneys is proposed legislation by Schumer that could restrict the information databrokers provide.

That’s why I am proposing new legislation that will require the Social Security Administration to set standards telling public agencies and private businesses exactly what method of truncation to use.

The Oregon Secretary of State announced new standards for acceptance of filings - which must mask certain personal identifiers.

After July 15, 2007, the Secretary of State may refuse to file documents containing a Social Security number, a state identification number, a driver license number, a credit or debit card number, or an account number that is not redacted to at least the last four digits of the number.

The February 2007 Federal Trade Commission report on identity fraud presents a statistical analysis of the types and extent of reported identity theft and fraud.

Gifts, investments, outside income, business relationships and other economic interests of top public agency employees and elected officials of San Bernardino County, California are now posted online in a database. Search by filer name, filing date, position or department name. San Bernardino is the first California county to put these records online, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

The Statement of Economic Interests, California Fair Political Practices Form 700, is filed each year with the government official’s home county, or with the state Fair Political Practices Commission for state elected officers, legislators, judges and court commissioners, and members of the state boards and commissions.

The San Bernardino County filings begin with 2006; the home addresses are redacted from the forms.

Maryland law now allows people arrested but not charged to expunge their police records.

The Nevada Senate is considering AB600, which has passed the Assembly, a bill that will allow people to redact their personal identifying information from public records which they previously filed. The last 4 digits of the Social Security number are not personal information and will be allowed on public records. The 4 number identifier will be required on judgments.

The Idaho state Supreme Court ruled that emails sent between county employees are public records.

Even though federal law makes certain student records confidential that does not prevent the public release of redacted student disciplinary records, according to a decision by the Montana Supreme Court.

Data brokers who were sued last year by AT&T for purloining customer telephone records have settled with the telecommunications company.

The 13 defendants were not initially named in AT&T Services, Inc. v. John Doe, filed in District Courts in Texas and California, until AT&T was able to subpoena the Internet service providers. They are now named and a permanent injunction disallows them from conducting similar business in the future.

Here are some new, merely worthy of a mention and updated search portals, search engines and databases.

Genealogy

RootsWeb - Newspaper Indexes
Search for the appearance of personal names in some historical newspapers.

Public Records Portals
SearchSystems - New Web site links. This site collects links to searchable public records databases and non governmental databases that collect various types of information. The “Newsites” page is updated several times a week.

Search Engines

American Legal Media has revamped its search engine, which primarily searches sites within the Law.com network. LawQuest may be useful for identifying articles and case decisions but much of the content is restricted to subscribers. [Via LegalSites]

Perform a name search at Voompeople to find employment and business associations. This can be a means of doing a name search for officers in a corporation, particularly useful in states (like California) where the Secretary of State corporation entity lookup is only by corporate name.

The Colorado Secretary of State has removed UCC document images from the Web site until such time as the Social Security numbers are redacted. The Secretary of State intends to issue new UCC forms that will not include the option of listing Social Security numbers. The policy also suspends bulk electronic sales of the Department’s UCC database. Colorado joins California, which recently instituted the same measures, along with Oregon, Mississippi, Missouri and a half dozen other states

In favorable public records’ news, the Oregon Secretary of State has expanded their online Business Registry Database, adding a search by individual name of Agent, Partner, Manager, President and Secretary.

The Vermont Secretary of State has introduced a “Right To Know” database of resources and laws related to Vermont public records. Search by statutory language, an agency or department’s name, exemption category or exemption and agency.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided that Board of Bar Overseers and Office of Bar Counsel are judicial agencies which are exempt from the public records provisions. Only documents held by government agencies within the executive branch are subject to the public records act.

Massachusetts criminal show cause hearings will remain closed, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial decided.

Add Florida to the list of states that are concocting ill conceived “identity theft” legislation. Before long it’ll be a crime to know another person’s name. HB 1117 seeks to make possession of personal identifying information on a person without their prior approval a felony. The legislative staff analysis provides a summary.

HB 1117 also creates a new section of statute which provides that any person who willfully possesses “sensitive personal information” concerning an individual without first obtaining that individual’s consent commits a third degree felony. The term “sensitive personal information” is defined to mean any name or number that may be used, alone or in conjunction with any other information, to identify a specific individual
including any:
• Alien registration number
• Government passport number
• Employer or taxpayer identification number
• Medicaid or food stamp account number
• Bank account number
• Credit or debit card number
• Unique biometric data, such as fingerprint, voice print, retina or iris image, or other unique physical representation

Unlike the identity theft statute, this section will not require proof that the person possessed the sensitive personal information with intent to fraudulently use it – only that the person willfully possessed it without first
obtaining permission of the individual.

Florida Bill HB 1211 would make distributing personal information without that person’s permission a misdemeanor. Are legislators being lazy in crafting laws that are so broad, or are they trying to bring legitimate business and the functions of the courts to a complete standstill?

HB 1213 bars the release of personal identifying information in public records. Other proposed legislation would remove certain information from court files and restrict the release of motor vehicle records.

I’d like to hear from private investigators, attorneys and journalists in Florida about the prospects of these measures. I sure hope they’re all working together.
AP story: Scores of legislative bills seek to limit public’s access to Florida records

On a more upbeat note, an Oregon government site has created a directory and search engine for locating databases of city, county, state and federal licenses, certifications, permits, and registrations. Quickly locate the Web site to lookup professional licenses and business permits. This is an ongoing project and most of the current links are state agencies.

A Kansas newspaper editorial elucidates just one of the many reasons why the Kansas Supreme Court’s mandate that government agencies redact personal information before releasing records to the public is harmful. The case is Data Tree, LLC v. Bill Meek, Sedgwick County Register of Deeds.

Unsolved criminal case files may be public records, not necessarily “open investigation” cases, according to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The court sided with the newspaper in, Athens Newspapers, L.L.C. v. Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, which asserted that a 1992 unsolved murder case was dormant and the police were defeating the purpose of the Open Records Act by claiming the case was still pending.

According to numerous wire releases, it appears that the private investigators implicated in the Hewlett-Packard Co. scandal, will avoid jail time in a no contest plea deal to misdemeanor charges on fraudulent wire communications in California.

In a statement issued by the Attorney General’s Office, the court did not accept the plea from investigators, Ronald DeLia, with the private investigation firm of Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc. and Matthew DePante, a third-party consultant working with Action Research Group. Rather, the judge offered to officially dismiss the case against them in September if they complete 96 hours of community service and pay restitution to victims.

Another defendant, private investigator Bryan Wagner, who previously worked at Action Research Group, also was charged in October. The state’s case against him was dropped after Wagner pleaded guilty to the same charges in federal court and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

The investigators were initially charged in October with four felony counts: use of false or fraudulent pretenses to obtain confidential information from a public utility; unauthorized access to computer data; identity theft; and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes. Each of those charges carried a fine of up to $10,000 and three years in prison.

While the deal with state prosecutors allows all the defendants to escape jail time, federal prosecutors have said their investigation of the HP leaks probe is ongoing. The saga continues…what do you think?

The Federal Trade Commission has settled another telephone pretexting case, Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Information Search, Inc. and David J. Kacala, individually and as an officer of Information Search, Inc., Defendants. The FTC will collect $3000 from the telephone information broker, who is also required to abandon the now illegal practice of impersonating telephone subscribers to get toll call records from the telecommunications carrier. The Commission had previously filed suit against Information Search, Inc. for obtaining personal financial bank account records in violation of the federal law known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley.

The Federal Trade Commission testified today at the Committee on Energy and Commerce on, Combating Pretexting: H.R. 936, Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. The text of the testimony of other participants is not yet available.

A Wisconsin federal jury concluded that a police officer unlawfully disclosed a woman’s address to her ex husband, a violation of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. An exception is made for the service of legal papers, which was a ruse used by the ex husband, who was subject to a restraining order, which the police officer neglected to see when he checked a court index. The case has had a chilling effect on other police departments, one of which is no longer allowing the public to view traffic violation citations.

The Texas House passed HB 2061, Relating to the acquisition or disclosure of the social security number of a living person by a governmental body, including by a district or county clerk, which allows county clerks to release documents that have social security numbers on them.

The Senate State Affairs Committee hearing on this Bill is taking place Monday, March 12. County clerks and real estate title company representatives are speaking in support of the Bill and the recording of only the last 4 digits of the social security number on all documents, which are usually only on federal tax liens and child support tax liens. One clerk has stated that the new federal tax liens only contain the last 4 numbers. Several clerks have pointed out that they don’t have the resources to redact SSNs or to digitize records.

The urgent legislation was necessary because of the disruption to government activity brought about by the recent opinion by the Texas Attorney General. The bill also allows clerks to redact social security numbers, when requested. One clerk said “she plans on requiring a notary public’s seal on all redaction requests submitted to her office.” Will the redaction requests be released as a public record, with the social security number redacted, of course?

Also reported at: Bizjournals, TVC Alert

The Idaho State Death Index has been updated to include an additional 3 years. Coverage now runs from 1911-1956.

California State Controller John Chiang has directed the Franchise Tax Board to remove Social Security Numbers from state tax liens. Tax liens are filed in county Recorder offices and entered into databases of tax liens and court judgments maintained by data aggregators, among which are Choicepoint, Merlindata and LexisNexis.

Current state law prohibits the Franchise Tax Board from publicly displaying an individual’s social security number in an effort to protect against identity theft. The law, though, provides an exception for reporting liens to third parties, such as financial institutions, employers and county recorders’ offices.

Chiang, who chairs the Franchise Tax Board, said the department will immediately begin lining out social security numbers and manually processing liens until a process is in place to automate the masking of social security numbers.

I alerted readers to this general trend a few weeks ago in, Why the judgments and liens databases will become obsolete.

How will this new policy affect private investigators, judgment collectors and background screeners?