~ addition to google alerts ~

You're probably using the fabulous Google Alerts service if you track the appearance of keywords on websites or in the news. The ever inventive folks at Google have just added the ability for you to get notified when your keywords appear in any of the public discussions at Google Groups. [From Internet Research Weekly]

~ some prison inmate and staff records are public - in Washington State ~

The medical records of unidentified prisoners and the identities of prison medical workers in disciplinary records are public records, according to the Washington State Supreme Court, in a case brought by a prison newspaper. Read the article

~ active military free lookup ~

The U.S. Department of Defense has established a website to enable compliance with the Service Members' Civil Relief Act which, with a last name and social security number, will confirm whether an individual is on active duty with the U.S. military. And it's free! [Thanks to Robert Scott for this tip.]

~ will the feds require states to use private data brokers? ~

The Federal government may, once again, reach out to private companies -- ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, the large data brokers, to verify personal information that the government needs but doesn't have the means to gather. While the data brokers are under threat of restrictive legislation, the U.S. government is seeking their assistance in identity verification.

Congress is considering forcing states to use data brokers to help screen applicants for commercial driver's licenses, a potentially lucrative development for an industry under scrutiny for how it handles personal information.

It would be an extremely dangerous, but not unjustifiable maneuver, for the Feds to retain use of the public record information while restricting public access.

~ reputable medical information sites ~

Consumer Reports has digested the many health information sites on the Internet and reduced the list to the top 20 reliable sources.

~ choicepoint lives to make another dollar ~

The Motley Fool assesses ChoicePoint's financials and finds, all in all, the company isn't doing too bad.

Litigation risk certainly exists. Regulatory risk, too. But I'd submit that any company that can, in the face of such troubles, still produce a 5.7% increase in year-over-year free cash flow (ChoicePoint generated $82.1 million in 1H 2005) will find a way to pull through.

Not too bad for a company under attack!

~ congress and data security ~

Catch the webcast of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, Data Security: The Discussion Draft of Data Protection Legislation, this Thursday at 10am. I assume that's D.C. time. The Washington-centric folks don't say. The Hearing web page states that the list of witnesses is not yet finalized. Hummm. I guess you can just drop in and have your say!

July 28 UPDATE: Senator Bill Nelson introduced an amendment to SB 1408 that restricts the sale of social security numbers, which was accepted and passed this morning. It's still subject to further changes. Read this news report.

July 29 UPDATE: SB 1408 is scheduled to be introduced in September to the Congress. The Committee on Energy and Commerce press release states: " The bill requires information brokers to annually submit their security policy to the FTC for audit. Information brokers must also disclose what personal data they hold to consumers who ask for that information."

~ next legislative hurdle: cell phone records ~

It seems that everytime EPIC concocts a medicinal potion to treat threats to privacy there is a legislator standing by to ensure that it is broadly disseminated. The current danger: online sales of cell phone call logs. Charles Schumer is taking the EPIC proposal and turning it into legislation.

There are many types of records that should not be sold over the Internet to anyone who can pay a fee. The unwise course of action would be for Congress to bar legitimate uses of cell phone records for legal investigations. The Senate is attempting to keep a cell phone directory out of the public domain too.

~ utah examines redacting public records ~

Utah's Government Records Access Management Task Force (GRAMA) is discovering the tortuous variables presented in redacting information from public records. The task force is conducting a series of meetings. The issues are reported in this article.

~ ohio police officer files available under the state public records act ~

If you read your Ohio Public Records Act handbook, which I reported on here, you might have discovered that Ohio police officer personnel files are available. The News-Herald reports on the various ways police departments organize their files.

~ national sex offender registry - not quite online, or national ~

We have the beginnings of a government sponsored site that links to all the state sex offender registries. The activity level has been so great at http://www.nsopr.gov/ that the server has been down, making the site inaccessible. Remember the long lines at gas stations in the 1980's? Just wait a minute and everything will settle down. The following states are currently participating. Hence, national is not really national.


Maryland
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Utah
Virginia
Wisconsin
Arizona
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana

~ new social security number validator ~

Robert Scott, of The Investigator's Little Black Book, has tossed his hat into the ring of SSN validators, launching SSNValidator, still in beta mode. Like the several other online validator services, Scott offers a few searches for free, then you gotta pay. It used to be standard to get a confirmation on the validity and date of issuance of a SSN when running the number through an address header, but now it's broken out as a separate fee service. More nickel and diming. I can't get real excited about receiving less for more money.

~ sex offender reports ~

Discrepancies between county and state sex offender registries may be more pronounced than in other criminal indexes, as demonstrated in this example in Missouri. One private site that was plotting sex offender addresses on Google Maps ceased operating because 2/3 of the reported addresses were inaccurate.

And, for those of you who want to keep current on sex offender news stories, check out SexOffendersReport.

~ government telephone directories ~

The telephone numbers for Contra Costa County, California public agencies can be accessed here.

Links to Federal telephone directories and agency numbers are listed here and another list is compiled by FirstGov. An imperfect set of search returns for states' government agency telephone directories are listed in these Google results . Each states' information telephone number and the web address is neatly arranged on this page.

~ new york school district to charge for public records ~

The New York City schools will charge an additional fee for documents that require redaction of any information.

~ interview with texas attorney general on public records ~

The Texas Attorney General talks about public records and mentions that security tapes at public university are subject to the Public Records Act. Read the interview (free subscription)

~ new employer search pretriever ~

Search the SimplyHired site by employer and/or geographical region to see who's hiring.

~ check local ordinances before dumpster diving ~

I wouldn't cite anything that happens in Blacksburg, Virginia (population 39,000) as a trend, but their City Council is considering slapping fines on dumpster divers, if a complaint is lodged. This reminds those of us who are fond of other people's trash to check local ordinances before engaging in this practice. It's no surprise that the weak document destruction policies of financial institutions is fueling the current concern.

Blacksburg Town Council is considering an ordinance that would make scavenging in trash cans or Dumpsters a class 3 misdemeanor after WSLS Channel 10 reporter Denise Eck aired two stories in May about banks that threw out customers' financial information without shredding it.

The article ends with the responsible conclusion that criminalizing curbside trash pickups probably wouldn't stand up to a legal challenge, considering that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled long ago that garbage in a public space is not private. I previously did a long posting on this topic, Why Your Neighbor's Garbage Is Yours, Or Not.

~ wisconsin court of appeals denies policeman's request for records under the state public records law ~

Cop number 1 alleges that cop number 2 sexually harassed her. Cop number 2 requests the records generated related to the allegation, under the Public Records Act, but the police chief issues a denial. Cop sues to get records, looses, then appeals, looses. The state Supreme Court rules in the same vein. Hempel v. Baraboo

Chief Justice Shirley Abramson's opinion, referred to in this news story, suggests a troubling outcome of denying access to public agency records.

“Faced with trying to craft a standard to cover this decidedly unexceptional case, the majority opinion ends up, despite its assertions, creating a rule that unfortunately can be applied in a broad array of cases to deny access to records,” she wrote.

~ ohio sunshine laws update ~

Ohio's Attorney General has just released the 2005 Public Records Act and Open Meetings Act handbook, a 185 page pdf of the statutes and case law regarding the application of public records and open meetings law in Ohio.

~ public records databases update ~

Searchsystems.net, a free online searchable database of public records links has updated the following page.

Inmates Nebraska thru Wisconsin

~ california vital records indexes at the california state archive ~

Sneak in to the California State Archive in Sacramento to view the indexes of these records of births, deaths, marriages wills and probates.

Here are just a few of the vital record resources you'll find.

ALAMEDA COUNTY - Marriage, 1854-1955
MARIN COUNTY - Probate, 1850-1924*, County, Judicial and Superior Court, 1850-1939, Bonds, Letters and Wills, 1853-1914*, Marriage, 1873-1936 (1873-1919*), Great Register, 1866-1908*, Miscelleaneous, 1870-1950#
SAN DIEGO COUNTY - Probate, 1886-1918*, Wills, 1880-1920*
IMPERIAL COUNTY - Deeds, 1851-1907*, Marriage, 1903-1923*

~ washington state public records laws under consideration ~

Here's a list of the potential damage proposed by the Washington State legislature.

~ government employee job applications ~

Subscribers to the California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) are periodically sent emails with answers by their lawyers to questions about public records access. A recent query concerned government employee job applications.

Are employment applications of current or past employees of government bodies that are subject to the Brown Act open to public disclosure? I assume that some information falls under the personnel privacy exemption (e.g. SSN) but would the government body be required by the Brown Act to provide a redacted employee application if so requested?

CFAC concludes that these records fall under the California Public Records Act (PRA) but that personal identifiers such as social security numbers could be redacted. They cite the following case.

"[I]nformation as to the education, training, experience, awards, previous positions and publications of the [employee] is routinely presented in both professional and social settings, ... and implicates no applicable privacy or public policy exemption." Eskaton Monterey Hospital v. Myers, 134 Cal. App.3d 788 (3d Dist. 1982).

A good source for access laws in all 50 states is the Citizen Access Project.

~ what good is a wireless phone directory anyway? ~

If a 411 directory of wireless telephone numbers is every produced it'll have to be before Senate bill 1350 goes into effect.

A provider of commercial mobile services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of such a provider, may not publish, in printed, electronic, or other form, or sell or otherwise disseminate, the contents of any wireless directory assistance service database, or any portion or segment thereof unless...

Well, unless you beg to be invited.

...the mobile service provider obtains express prior authorization for
listing from such subscriber...

If anyone has ever been in a public bathroom and heard someone talking on their cell phone (do I need say, loudly?) you have to wonder just who are these wireless weenies who don't want their privacy molested?

The Center for Democracy and Technology collects summaries of current and past federal legislation on issues of privacy, technology and the internet.

~ texas attorney general takes frio county sheriff to court over breach of open records law ~

The Attorney General of Texas was forced to file a petition for writ of mandamus to compel a County Sheriff to release public records that the AG had previously ordered the Sheriff to turn over. The Sheriff not only failed to provide the public records to the original requester but declined to submit them to the AG. Hey, who do you think rules this roost?

The requested records were for the names of those authorized to execute bail bonds in the county, as well as cellular telephone and employment records of sheriff's office personnel. Humm, the later may be the real stickler. Who do you think the Frio County (population 16,000) Sheriff has on their payroll?

~ advocating and reporting - saving personal identifiers - answering EPIC ~

No matter your occupation, if you care about access to information and you can be in Washington D.C. this Thursday, July 14, you are needed to help the National Council of Investigation and Security Services lobby Congress in order to secure private investigator's continued access to social security numbers and dates of birth. The database aggregators also must be able to store, and make available this personal data to PIs, in order for us to conduct the very investigations that are mandated by law. I conduct due diligence investigations, pursuant to court requirements, in real estate and probate matters, which would be severely affected if my access to personal identifiers was curtailed.

NCISS is getting some good media exposure for our issues but diligent reporters are always able to find investigators, who will broadcast, for the record, their disinterest in saving personal identifiers. Several examples appeared in today's Boston Globe:

Dealing with identity theft
As database companies restrict access to Social Security numbers private investigators find it tougher to track down witnesses and missing persons

Before the ash settles on the current issues before Congress, the slash and burn privacy extremists are pressuring the Federal Trade Commission to establish a policy on the legality of securing telephone call logs without a subpoena. There's been a flurry in the press on this topic, which has primarily quoted EPIC but never any statutes. I reported on the Washington Post story here; the AP also ran with it. Here's a Google News list of reports, and the lazy WSJ story.

Granted, I haven't spent a lifetime searching for cases on this topic but a case that everyone should read addresses the situation in which an information broker (Action Research Group, Mike Lee), hired by a private investigator, impersonated a telephone company subscriber (Clemons) and obtained that subscriber's toll numbers via fax. [U. S. Court Of Appeals, 6th Circuit [2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23547,*;82 Fed. Appx. 436ROGER CLEMONS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RANDALL WALLER, A ACTION AUTOLINER d/b/a ACTION RESEARCH GROUP, KARL HALL, and MERIDIAN RESOURCES & INVESTIGATIONS, Defendants-Appellees. No. 02-5342]

The Appellate opinion affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, citing that Lee was a "party to the communication" and that it was not alleged that Lee (or any defendant) was intercepting a communication for the purpose of committing a crime or tort. A substantial issue was alluded to, but not addressed, in this opinion: "Defendants' conduct arguably may give rise to liability under other statutes or the common law, but it is not a violation of the ECPA." (Electronic Communications Privacy Act)

Prior cases in which the Supreme Court identified deceptive behaviors that were violations of law are listed. However, this case only considers whether the fraud constituted an unlawful interception, that is a wiretap.

Clemons characterizes the question presented as "whether it violates the [ECPA] for an imposter to acquire an individual's telephone records by using fraud and deceit to induce the transmission of these records by a telephone company, via facsimile, to the imposter by leading the telephone ... company to believe that the records were being requested by, and would be received by, the legitimate subscriber." (Appellant's Brief at 3.) This phrasing implies that the nature of the contents of the facsimile transmission (Clemons's phone records) is relevant--that is, that the fact that it was a telephone company sending telephone records makes this suit cognizable under the federal wiretap act. This fact is immaterial. The only relevant question is whether an unlawful interception occurred. The nature of the contents of the transmission has no bearing on this question whatsoever.

Not only did the defendants not intercept a telephone call but the wiretap provision [18 U.S.C. § 2510(5)] specifically exempts "any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any component thereof. (i) furnished to the subscriber [*8] or user by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business ..."

An unexplored aspect of the trial court case that future litigation might address, would have a significant bearing on the legality of impersonating a subscriber.

The district court assumed without deciding that the fax transmission was an electronic communication protected by the statute. Appellees do not contest that assumption. The district court then granted summary judgment on two grounds: first, on the ground that Lee's fax machine was subject to the "ordinary course [*9] of business" exception provided by 18 U.S.C. § 2510(5), and second, on the ground that Lee was subject to the "party to the communication" exception provided by 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d). The district court correctly analyzed the "party to the communication" exception and properly applied it to this case. We affirm the district court's judgment on this basis alone and therefore need not consider the issue of whether the receipt of the communication over Lee's fax machine met the "ordinary course of business" exception.

~ acronym finder is also fun ~

Difficult challenge: must find acronym. Or more likely, you'll be scratching your head to decipher an acronym. This handy site will help you with this deep seated problem. One of the search results returned for "CALI" was, "Chromophore-Assisted Laser Inactivation". An associated link will search Google for the selected phrase. Now you know all about acronyms!

~ EPIC complaint to FTC to shut down bestpeoplesearch.com ~

Professional private investigators have long been dismayed by the rampant sale of personal information on the Internet to anyone who will buy it. EPIC's recent complaint to the Federal Trade Commission lays out the violations of the law implied in bestpeoplesearch's claim to be able to obtain "detailed phone call records as well as the addresses on file for post office box and private mailbox holders. " EPIC implores the FTC to "initiate an industry-wide investigation into online investigation sites. "

~ los angeles county real property address search and map ~

The Los Angeles County Assessor has a very friendly real property search retrieval system. Look up a parcel by street address (city name is not required), get a property description and street map showing the location, and then set a radius between 500 feet and 1 mile to get a list of properties recently sold. The properties are then highlighted in different colors on the map. Click on one to get the property profile, including last sale date and reported sales price.

~ Cut To The Chase - Tamara Thompson in Law Technology News ~

Law Technology News has published my recent article on database services and search caveats, Cut to the Chase. (Free registration required.) I hesitate to say this but if you can't get it online send me an email request.

Even though savvy use of online personal information can vastly increase the chance of locating a witness or uncovering an unknown court case, databases can also waste a searcher's time and money. Here's a quick overview of available data services and tips on how to use them to your advantage.

~ wisconsin reviews policy on the availability of court records on the internet ~

Wisconsin's director of the state courts has assembled a committee to review their policies related to the posting of court index data at the court website. Wisconsin is one of the few states (Washington, I believe, being the other one) that centralize all county cases in a statewide index. Read the article

UPDATE: Hawaii and Iowa also have statewide indexes. [Thanks to Penny Potter-Entinger for the Iowa tip!]

~ the list of free public records sites ~

SearchSystems Free Public Records Directory: Still the best and most comprehensive set of direct links to search pages of government public records. The only site of its type with a searchable database. It just instituted an annoying delay page between your site selection and the search page.

Public People Finder: This site has fee services at the top of the page. Scroll down to the lower half, to the map of the United States, select a state to review the public records links.

Public Record Finder: Again, this site has fee services at the top and sides of the page and it's difficult to tell where the free searches begin. Scroll down to the heading, "Nationwide Public Records By Categories". This is the beginning of the links to government sites. Links are also arranged by state. A small collection of international sources are identified.

Rominger Legal - An extensive set of links, organized by state, to each state government agency.

BRB Public Record Resource Center: A small collection.


public records

~ men and women surf the internet differently ~

Two useful trends for investigators to know emerged from a study by Easily.co.uk of Internet searching habits.

Furthermore the different usage of the Web compared to women was evident in a man’s choice of what information to display on web pages. For men, the most frequent content uploaded was their CV, while women preferred to fill their display with family photos.

One in ten women use the Internet to find out about potential dates. Read the article

~ michigan and utah to institute "do-not-email" list ~

Too much intrusion of junk mail of the nasty kind has lead Michigan to get more aggressive in blocking unwanted emails.

Michigan and Utah have until Friday to create and operate registries of e-mail addresses similar to "do-not-call" lists. Businesses will have to buy copies of the registries and face prison time and fines if they send e-mail to any addresses that parents submit. The registries also can include instant-message addresses, cell phones and pager numbers.

Michigan legislation
Utah legislation

~ go to the web for background on juveniles ~

Kids do the darndest things. Such as talking about their personal lives, in detail, in blog diaries.

~ your ID for a record ~

Idaho is now requiring personal identification in order to view public records. Ostensibly, this is to deter....what? Misuse of the information? In California, government agencies sometimes hold a driver license in exchange for microfiche but they don't photocopy the identification. I had an experience the other day that falls into the category of ridiculous-gestures-that-have-the- appearance-of-enhancing-security-but-do-nothing. I go into the Federal Courthouse and the screener looks at my driver license before waving me through. I politely ask what he's looking for. The answer? Is my license expired? If so, he'll exclude me from the building. Exactly how does that enhance anyone's security?

~ quick links to state legal resources ~

Link to each states' legal resources online. This list is divided by state and categories: Legislative bills, Codes, Regulations, Attorney General Opinions, Newspapers and Law Libraries.

~ iowa sex offenders - nowhere to be found ~

The Iowa Gazette Online has an extensive series on the flaws in the State's Sex Offender Registry.

The addresses of nearly one in four high-risk sex offenders on the list police and the public use to track them in Iowa are incorrect, a six-month Gazette investigation found.

The challenges of finding appropriate housing and employment, as well as the lack of psychological services available, is examined.

~ washington state court makes public records available online - free, the way they're supposed to be ~

Bit by bit the Washington State Courts are adding free index searches of public records. Unlike many states, Washington has all county trial court cases listed in one index.

As of July 1, 2005, limited Washington Court case records are accessible to the general public through a new "Search Case Records" application pilot. While currently under development, this system allows the public to find various case records such as dissolutions, child support, or judgments by utilizing a simple statewide search of a person’s name.

Now, there's a bold idea! The free index doesn't replace the fee based online system, which has more features.

~ kern county, california adds online GIS mapping ~

Do you want to measure a property parcel without leaving your office? Or get an aerial view of an intersection? The free GIS mapping system enables the searcher to do this, and more. Kern County has added the GIS mapping system, in place at many county and city Internet sites. Enter your APN or real property address in the search bar, zoom in and create a printable map or photographic image, with added text and highlights.

Every locale has a unique, often annoying set of steps to access their data. Here are a few counties that have implemented this technology:

King County, Washington

Napa County, California

San Francisco County, California

Marin County, California

Other California sites

Los Angeles, California

~ more and more we cut the cord - Americans solo with wireless phones ~

TracNotes reports on a survey from Harris Interactive on cell phone usage. Interestingly, only 39 percent of those surveyed said they would never disconnect their landline. But we know how swiftly technology can change everything.

Nearly one in ten (9%) U.S. adults have “cut the cord” with their wireline telephone companies and are now using wireless phones exclusively for their calling needs, according to a study released this week by market research firm Harris Interactive. Additionally, more than half of U.S. adults are “seriously considering” or “somewhat considering” giving up their landlines.

telephone