Private Investigator News

Colorado Animal Abuse Registry Would Require Convicted Abusers To Register In Database Similar To Sex Offenders

2012-01-31T18:52:00.001-08:00

"Animal abusers over the age of 18 in Colorado may soon find themselves treated like sex offenders if a bill seeking to create an animal registry passes.

House Bill 1087, scheduled for a hearing in the Colorado House Committee today, calls for adults convicted of animal cruelty to register their address, name and photo for police and public records."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Illinois bill would open search warrants to public

2012-01-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

"A bill introduced in the state House would turn into law a 2007 opinion by Attorney General Lisa Madigan that search warrants are considered public records unless a court order specifies otherwise.

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Sounding a call to action to save our access to the SSDI

2012-01-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

"On Thursday of this coming week (February 2, 2012), the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Ways & Means Committee in Washington, D.C., will hold hearings that have the capacity to drastically affect the access of genealogists to the Social Security Death Index (“SSDI”) and related underlying information.

You can read the press release from subcommittee chairman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) here and — trust me on this one — it ain’t friendly to genealogists and our day-to-day use of the SSDI. We all need to be crystal clear on this: Rep. Johnson’s bill would effectively mean an end to public access to the Social Security death master file (the essential source for the SSDI) completely."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California teacher harassment probe is public record

2012-01-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

"If a school district finds that one of its teachers has sexually harassed a student, a California court says the public has the right to see the records of the investigation.

The ninth-grade teacher, who was reprimanded but not criminally charged in the incident, has substantial privacy rights at stake, said the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. But the court said parents have an overriding interest in learning about a schoolteacher’s conduct and how school officials responded to it."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Wisconsin recall petitions may go online

2012-01-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

""Since domestic violence and stalking victims already have their information shielded from the public poll books based on state law, we feel that those same protections should be extended for the recall petition publicly accessible documents," said Stacy Harbaugh of the ACLU."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Missouri legislation targets anonymous callers

2012-01-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

"A bill in the Missouri House would make it a crime for people making phone calls to misrepresent themselves by inserting false information on caller ID systems."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Fund Managers and SEC Registration

2012-01-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

"The SEC has provided a no action letter in response to an American Bar Association request on guidance for private fund managers. The ABA requested clarification that a group of funds could use a singe registration where the fund managers are in a control relationship and conduct a single advisory business subject to a unified compliance program. The theory is that permitting a single registration (and a single Form ADV filing) to cover the entire group of related advisers would more accurately reflect the full nature and scope of the single advisory business conducted by the group. Therefore it would be more informative for advisory clients and private fund investors as well as the SEC."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

EEOC Offers Opinion on the Effect of the ADA on Hiring Practices

2012-01-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

"The EEOC has recently made available an opinion letter on the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and its effect on hiring practices.

As with all other protected classes (e.g. race, gender, age), hiring criteria that have a disparate impact on those with disabilities are only allowed only if job-related and necessary."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Hawaii Bill Resurfaces to Make Public Employee Names, Exact Salaries Private

2012-01-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

"A bill introduced last year in response to Civil Beat's publishing of state and city government salaries has resurfaced and will receive a hearing Friday.

House Bill 1356 proposes altering the portion of the public disclosure law that requires the name and salaries of government employees be made public. It would instead only require that their "job title and salary range" be subject to disclosure."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Ohio court again protects personal information

2012-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

"The Ohio Supreme Court is continuing a trend of rulings that declare personal information in government records as exempt from release under the state's public records laws.

In a 5-2 ruling released today, the justices upheld an appellate court ruling that a Cleveland lawyer was entitled to receive parent-completed questionnaires concerning the possible lead poisoning of children living in public housing. However, the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court in ruling that names, dates of birth and other personal identifying information should be redacted.

The personal information is not a public record because it does not “document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures or operations” of the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, the justices found. However, the court found that the addresses on the forms should be released since they document the housing authority's function."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Orleans creeps into the digital age as paper records go online

2012-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

"Three years after Orleans Parish's uniquely splintered way of keeping real estate and civil court records was consolidated under a single parish clerk, a plan is finally in place to let the public access important documents online."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Agencies demo one-stop FOIA portal

2012-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

"Federal employees who respond to Freedom of Information Act requests got their first look today at a new web portal designed to improve the efficiency and transparency of their jobs.

When the portal goes live in October, it should "meet all the requirements that any FOIA office big or small would have to deal with," said National Archives and Records Administration's Office of Government Information Services Director Miriam Nisbet in an interview with Federal News Radio.

For example, she said, it is being "built to accommodate all the reporting requirements that agencies have to deal with and do annually for the Department of Justice," which oversees agency compliance with the open-records law."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Oregon public employees want Legislature to block release of names by PERS

2012-01-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

"Public employees are asking the Oregon Legislature to block the release of individual employees and retirees names by the state pension system.

The House Business and Labor committee will introduce a draft bill Thursday that would add individual employee and retiree names to a list of information exempt from public disclosure by the state retirement system, including their addresses, telephone numbers and social security numbers."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

W.Va. lawmakers revisit 'public record' in FOIA

2012-01-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

"A document's content or context could soon help determine its release under West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.

The House of Delegates unanimously passed that proposed update of the open government law to the state Senate on Wednesday.

The measure defines public record as any writing prepared or received by a public body, if its content or context relates to the public's business."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Napa County new Caregiver Permit Program

2012-01-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

"In the six months since Napa County began enforcing a new law designed to protect the elderly from criminals, nearly 200 caregivers have been issued permits after undergoing background checks, the county reports.

As of Jan. 5, Napa County has issued 69 cards to individual caregivers and another 125 cards to employees of caregiver service firms, said John Tuteur, Napa County’s assessor-recorder/county clerk. The first permit was issued July 22, he said.

Under the Napa County Caregiver Permit Program, anyone who receives free room and board or any other form of compensation in exchange for caregiving has to obtain a permit. The program is administered by the Area Agency on Aging serving Napa and Solano counties."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

All Mug Shots Should Be Public, New Times Freelancer Argues In Case U.S. Supreme Court May Hear

2012-01-13T16:58:00.000-08:00

"In a case that has now made its way onto the U.S. Supreme Court's radar, Karantsalis is challenging a decades-long insistence by the feds that mug shots are not public record. The nine justices are expected to meet in a couple weeks to decide whether to hear Karantsalis's argument."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private company hoarding license-plate data on U.S. drivers

2012-01-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

"Capitalizing on one of the fastest-growing trends in law enforcement, a private California-based company has compiled a database bulging with more than 550 million license-plate records on both innocent and criminal drivers that can be searched by police.

The technology has raised alarms among civil libertarians, who say it threatens the privacy of drivers. It’s also evidence that 21st-century technology may be evolving too quickly for the courts and public opinion to keep up. The U.S. Supreme Court is only now addressing whether investigators can secretly attach a GPS monitoring device to cars without a warrant."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Legislation and Compliance Update: Pepsi Settles EEOC Class Charge for $3.1 Million

2012-01-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced settlement of a charge it brought against Pepsi Beverages on behalf of black applicants whom Pepsi had declined to hire due to arrests that had not resulted in convictions or to minor convictions that were not relevant to the position. Pepsi will pay over $3.1m and offer jobs to anyone in the class who is still interested in working for Pepsi.

This is consistent with the EEOC’s long-held position that, to hold a conviction record against an applicant, and employer must show that excluding the applicant based on the conviction is job-related and consistent with business necessity."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Mexico removing crime victim names from state salary database

2012-01-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

"A state employee was alarmed when she was informed in December that her name, salary and where she works would be added to New Mexico's Sunshine Portal, a state website designed to make available public information about how their taxpayer dollars are being spent, along with the names of all other state employees.

The employee, whom News 13 will call "Rebecca," was concerned for her safety because she is a victim of domestic violence who has been beaten and stalked by her ex-husband."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Arizona Governor Wants Searchable Teacher-Discipline Database

2012-01-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

"Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says she wants to encourage greater involvement by parents in their children's education, and evidently that includes giving parents easy access to teachers' disciplinary records.

The Republican governor proposed creating "searchable database" for parents that would allow them to research the licensing background and disciplinary actions teachers have faced. She also says she wants to change the process through which teachers can be decertified.

The governor described her creation of a database in a proposal released yesterday, the same day she delivered her "State of the State" speech to lawmakers. The speech does not offer details of the creation of the system, according to a transcript, and it offered few specifics on education policy."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Florida County courts redact personal information from cases available to public

2012-01-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

"As business at Palm Beach County's courts resumed in the first week of the year, court clerks got their first test of how they will adapt to a new state law designed to keep personal information out of public view.

Starting Jan. 1, Florida court clerks are required to remove Social Security numbers, bank, debit and credit card information from all public court records.

The newly enforced mandate has been in the works for years as the rise in identity theft forced the court system to look for ways to protect personal information.

In Palm Beach County, where the clerk's office manages literally trillions of pieces of data stored in several hundred million files, complying with the law could have crippled the system. But County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock said some early planning and foresight helped her office start the new year with the ability to provide the public immediate access to electronically redacted files from all cases filed since 2008."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Connecticut State Watchdog Softens Position On UConn Open Records

2012-01-05T23:27:00.000-08:00

"Freedom Of Information Commission's Shift Surprises Supreme Court Justices Connecticut's open records watchdog unexpectedly softened its position Monday during arguments before the state Supreme Court about whether the University of Connecticut can treat databases it creates as trade secrets and deny the information to the public.

The case grew out of political consultant Jonathan Pelto's request for lists of people who bought tickets to UConn sporting or cultural events, donated to its library or inquired about continuing education programs. Pelto said he wanted to use the data to generate support for an independent organization that would advocate for the state university system.

UConn denied Pelto's request, claiming that the data amounted to "customer lists." Under state law, customer lists have "independent economic value" because they are not generally available and are protected by whoever controls them. Customer lists are considered trade secrets under state law and, UConn argues, exempt from disclosure to the public.

Pelto asked the Freedom of Information Commission in April 2008 to compel UConn to give him the data. Apparently, even the commission was divided over the question. When the commission finally ordered disclosure of the material to Pelto in May 2009, it did so by overruling an earlier decision by a hearing officer.

UConn successfully appealed the commission's final order to Superior Court, which agreed with the university. The commission then appealed to the Supreme Court.

In its written brief, filed with the Supreme Court, the commission argued that UConn, as a publicly subsidized institution, is not entitled to maintain trade secrets."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California Judicial Council ‘Due Diligence’ Talks Suspended

2012-01-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

"The Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation Board and the Executive and Planning Committee of the Judicial Council, stating that a collaborative relationship on the early deployment of the California Case Management System (CCMS) was more complex than anticipated—particularly with the Foundation's desire to target problems in the foster care system—voted yesterday in separate actions to endorse a recommendation to suspend talks designed to explore the potential use of grant money and other resources for the early deployment of CCMS. The recommendation was a mutual decision by the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, the State Bar of California, and the CCMS Internal Committee, the Judicial Council committee overseeing the CCMS project.

In December, the three parties began a 12-week due diligence period to more fully explore the viability of the collaborative approach."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California campaign donors database is back online

2012-01-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

"After an embarrassing, month-long outage, California's online database of campaign contributions and lobbying went back online in the final hours of 2011, once again allowing residents of the state that houses Silicon Valley to easily find out what corporations and unions are spending money to influence their elected officials.

The state's tottering Cal-Access database crashed Nov. 30 and remained offline for most of the month. In the meantime, staff at the secretary of state's office posted PDFs of new campaign contributions and responded to requests for historical data by hand-searching old files."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Illinois Statewide First Degree Murderer Database

2012-01-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

"Starting this year, individuals convicted of first-degree murders in Illinois will have to register their names, address, employment places and photos on a newly created database, like the already existing sex offender registry, for 10 years after their release from prison.

For convicted sex offenders already on the register, they will also have to sign up with their campus’ public safety office if they are attending or working at a university."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Dec 2011

2012-01-03T22:47:00.001-08:00

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Dec 2011

2012-01-03T22:35:00.001-08:00

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Maricopa County probate records will not be available online

2012-01-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

"A newly imposed rule restricting electronic access to Maricopa County Probate Court records means that cases cannot be reviewed without physically going to the clerk of court's office.

The rule has raised concerns among many of those involved in probate court who say it prevents them from gaining access to their own cases or cases involving relatives. It also has some probate judges and lawyers calling on the state's highest court to lift the rule, which they described as inconvenient and problematic.

"Apparently these case records were previously provided online in violation of the rule," Presiding Maricopa County Probate Court Judge Rosa Mroz wrote in a December e-mail. "At this time, however, there is nothing we can do.""
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Bexar County criminal cases since '74 now online

2011-12-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

"After years of planning and delays, Bexar County on Thursday granted the public free online access to local felony case records — detailing 267,000 prosecutions that cover almost four decades.

“It's a huge amount of data,” said District Clerk Donna Kay McKinney.

“It's accurate,” McKinney added, but she cautioned those hoping to use the data for background checks that it does not include offenses from other counties.

Without having to go to the courthouse, now anyone can at least find out whether someone they know or plan to hire or do business with has a Bexar County criminal history."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Nev. texting while driving law brings fines Jan. 1

2011-12-30T17:47:00.000-08:00

"Driving while texting or talking on a handheld device will hit Nevadans in their wallets come Jan. 1 as a new law shifts from warnings to fines, among nearly three dozen other laws that take effect in the new year.

The cellphone ban took effect Oct. 1, but until now authorities haven't issued tickets. Nevadans were given a three-month grace period to get used to the idea.

That changes Sunday, when the fine for a first offense will be $50. A second offense will cost $100, and a third or subsequent offense brings a $250 fine, not including court costs."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

2011-12-29T17:35:00.001-08:00

Secret subpoena aimed at Twitter user not so secret anymore http://ping.fm/9sNaX

Secret subpoena aimed at Twitter user not so secret anymore

2011-12-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

"Massachusetts authorities apparently thought that asking nicely would suffice to keep secret their subpoena for information on a Twitter user involved with Occupy Wall Street. They thought wrong.

So when the Suffolk County District Attorney's office sent its request to Twitter, its subpoena ended up in the inbox of the DA's target, following a decision by Twitter to share it as part of its privacy policy."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

2011-12-29T17:19:00.003-08:00

Access to some ND court records may be blocked http://ping.fm/CTGjT

2011-12-29T17:19:00.001-08:00

California's New Laws in 2012 http://ping.fm/4gEkr

2011-12-29T17:18:00.001-08:00

Pa. does not have to disclose birth dates http://ping.fm/232p2

Pa. does not have to disclose birth dates

2011-12-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

"A Pennsylvania appeals court says the Corbett administration does not have to disclose the precise dates of birth for state workers under the Right-to-Know Law.

The Commonwealth Court on Thursday said the threat of identity theft is sufficient to trigger the "personal security" exception in the open-records law."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California's New Laws in 2012

2011-12-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

"California’s state lawmakers were busy little bees this year and a slew of new laws created by the Legislature start taking effect Jan. 1, 2012. In 2011, lawmakers in all 50 states and territories came up with close to 40,000 new laws on issues across the board."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Access to some ND court records may be blocked

2011-12-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

"North Dakota's Supreme Court has endorsed allowing judges to block electronic access to state records of criminal prosecutions if the person accused is acquitted or the charges are dismissed.

Jack McDonald, a Bismarck attorney who represents North Dakota newspapers and broadcasters, called it "self-defeating," given the high court's efforts to make judicial information available through the Internet.

North Dakota residents who are doing quick background checks now will be denied access to information they are paying for, McDonald said."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Tulsa County Oklahoma begins posting court documents online

2011-12-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

"New rules by the Oklahoma Supreme Court governing the use of personal information in public records is getting one of its first tests in Tulsa County.

Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith has begun posting civil pleadings, criminals charges and other court documents on the Internet, she said. However, trial transcripts will not be placed online, Smith said.

Smith said her office began posting filings Dec. 15. With the exception of small claims judgments, documents filed before that date will not be placed online and will continue to be available at the clerk's office, she said."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Vermont panel recommends property taxes be public

2011-12-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

"The Public Records Legislative Study Committee — meeting last week for the last time before the Legislature reconvenes in January — seems to have settled a few issues, sort of.

The committee, which is charged with examining state laws to see if all things that are exempt from public records really should be, decided to recommend that state property tax records be declared public, said Rep. Donna Sweaney, D-Windsor, co-chairwoman of the panel. However, the group also decided to recommend that the state return to directly making income-sensitivity payments to taxpayers (call them prebates, rebates, whatever) so that any income-related information won’t be on a person’s property tax records."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Jersey State Police overtime pay removed from public info search

2011-12-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

"State Attorney General Paula Dow has created new rules that will keep records of any State Police overtime pay confidential, blocking their access to the public.

NJ.com reports that Dow’s rule applies to law enforcement officers under the Department of Law and Public Safety, but total overtime figures for the departments will still be available. The measure does not apply to local police departments."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Arkansas Police disciplinary files open, attorney general says

2011-12-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

"Missed this yesterday. It's an official attorney general's opinion, in response to a question posed by Little Rock Officer Joshua Hastings, about a decision by the department to open investigative files concerning Hastings' 10-day suspension. The attorney general said he agreed that the material should be disclosed."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Nevada Supreme Court expands open records law

2011-12-15T22:24:00.000-08:00

"The Nevada Supreme Court has expanded the state’s open records law to allow the public more access to government documents, including logs of e-mails.

The court, in a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Nancy Saitta, ruled in a case in which former Gov. Jim Gibbons refused to turn over his 104 e-mail records to the Reno Gazette-Journal in correspondence with ten persons during a six-month period."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California website's glitches block online tracking of campaign donations

2011-12-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

"With just six months until the June primary election, campaign cash is starting to flow to candidate and ballot measure committees.

But for much of the past two weeks, technological difficulties have blocked the public's ability to track the transactions online.

Cal-Access, the 12-year-old portal for filing campaign finance and lobbying reports, has been down for all but 30 hours since Nov. 30."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Federal court rules SEC can withhold investigation notes

2011-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

"A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled that a federal agency's release of documents in a criminal prosecution did not require another agency to release the same or related documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Friday’s ruling affirmed the decision of a lower court that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can still withhold 114 sets of handwritten notes from release under a federal Freedom of Information Act request even though the U.S. Department of Justice had previously released 11 of the 114 sets in a criminal trial."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

UCSF to Receive Tobacco Papers, Funding to Improve Public Access to the Documents

2011-12-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

"The U.S. Department of Justice filed a proposed consent order today with a federal district court that finalizes requirements for three major tobacco companies to make internal documents public in accordance with an earlier ruling that the companies violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The documents will be archived in UCSF’s Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL)."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Maine court hears public access case

2011-12-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

"Six Maine counties are hoping the state's highest court will overturn a lower court decision that sided with a company seeking registry of deeds documents at a lower cost than the counties want to charge.

MacImage of Maine LLC, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine and the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, argued Tuesday that the registries of deeds' records are public under Maine law and that the public is allowed to inspect and copy those records at a reasonable cost.

The company intends to create a website containing the registries of deeds records and charge for access, undercutting the price charged by the counties' offices."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Okla. Supreme Court issues rule allowing greater public access to online court records

2011-12-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

"The Oklahoma Supreme Court scrapped a plan Monday that would have allowed birth dates and home addresses to be excluded from public court documents.

The new rule applies to district courts across the state and was developed as part of the high court's plan to develop a statewide court system database that will allow the public to have online access to virtually every document filed in all 77 of the state's courthouses.

It provides that those who file court documents may only limit information on Social Security, taxpayer ID, financial account and driver's license numbers.

The previous proposed rule released by the court directed court filers to omit names of minor children, dates of births and home addresses, prompting opposition from a diverse group that included prosecutors, law enforcement, attorneys and the media."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Posting of LAPD commanders' personal data prompts city action

2011-12-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

"Anonymous postings of personal information on more than two dozen L.A. police commanders prompted a councilman to propose supporting legislation that would keep such records confidential, officials said Monday.

Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department opened an investigation into who listed officers' property records, campaign contributions, biographical information and, in a few cases, the names of children and other family members on sites that allow users to anonymously input data.

Such sites have increasingly been used to post the personal information of individuals who raise the ire of online activists, a practice known as "doxing."
On Friday, Councilman Dennis P. Zine, a former LAPD officer, introduced a motion calling on the state to mandate that county assessors keep law enforcement officials' records confidential, similar to protections offered by the state Department of Motor Vehicles."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Facial Recognition Apps Carries Risk of User Privacy Violations, FTC Warns

2011-12-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

"Companies need to be careful about not violating user privacy when implementing facial recognition technology in their products, the Federal Trade Commission warned.

The Federal Trade Commission would take a hard line on companies that violate consumer privacy using facial recognition technology, the agency's chairman said at a public workshop.

Government officials, privacy advocates and technology companies discussed the ethics of facial recognition and the impact on user privacy at a workshop in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Library of Congress to receive entire Twitter archive

2011-12-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

"The Library of Congress and Twitter have signed an agreement that will see an archive of every public Tweet ever sent handed over to the library's repository of historical documents.

...Researchers will be able to look at the Twitter archive as a complete set of data, which they could then data-mine for interesting information."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Arkansas Supreme Court reverses conviction in Twittering juror case

2011-12-08T23:17:00.000-08:00

"The Arkansas Supreme Court today reversed the capital murder conviction and death sentence of Erickson Dimas-Martinez in Benton County because Judge David Clinger failed to call a mistrial or dismiss jurors who'd either slept during the trial or who'd disregarded the judge's instructions and used his cell phone to Twitter during the trial and jury deliberations."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California Court Denies Access to Domestic Violence Registry

2011-12-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

"A local resident has lost his bid to access the state’s Domestic Violence Restraining Order System in order to determine whether he is the subject of any order registered there.

Div. Three of this district’s Court of Appeal Thursday affirmed a ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald M. Sohigian that the registry’s contents are exempt from disclosure under the Information Practices Act of 1977."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Connecticut: Victim privacy vs. open records case

2011-12-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

"Connecticut's Supreme Court is considering whether the state constitution's promise of respectful, fair treatment for crime victims entitles them to a voice in decisions on whether certain court records of their abusers can be released."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Nov 2011

2011-12-03T11:56:00.001-08:00

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Los Angeles Superior Court class action over court records

2011-11-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

"Los Angeles Superior Court failed to destroy information on more than 35,000 marijuana-related offenses, and publishes it in an online index of criminal cases that lists the charges but not the dispositions, which hurts people looking for work, a class action claims in Superior Court.
Two Doe plaintiffs say the court has maintained "a purported 'index' of criminal cases for Los Angeles County ... that can be name searched by anyone by remote electronic access.""

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

License plate reader may invade privacy

2011-11-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

"Asset recovery businesses have always been trying to do more with less. Now, some of them are taking advantage of cameras and digital imaging. But privacy experts say it's a slippery slope.

For repossession agencies, it is clearly breakthrough technology. It is the exact same technology police use - license plate recognition technology through high-speed digital cameras mounted on the hood and trunk.

John Henderson, owner of Niagara Frontier Recovery, has been using the system for a few years.

"My cameras read the license plate on that car. It comes into our system, and it's saved into the system," explained Henderson.

Photos of the plates pop up on a laptop computer inside the repo truck. The plate numbers are then checked against a national database of vehicles to be repossessed, compiled from lein holders."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Louisiana adoption registry available to birth mothers, adoptees

2011-11-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

"Birth mothers who have placed their children for adoption might find themselves thinking about those children and where they are now, and adoptees might be similar thoughts about them as well.

The Lafayette Diocese's Office of Catholic Social Services is a strong advocate of open adoptions, in which birth mothers remain in contact with children and adopted families."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Wisconsin court decision to keep inmate employers secret appealed

2011-11-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

"Do taxpayers have a right to know where prison inmates are working? The Wisconsin Department of Corrections doesn't think so.

On Wednesday, FOX 11 On Special Assignment first reported on the state's work release program, where hundreds of prison inmates in Wisconsin are holding down jobs on the outside. We wanted to find out where. But so far, the Department of Corrections has refused to release that information. Now, FOX 11 decided to file an appeal."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Wisconsin public records law requires disclosure of law firm invoices for county's defense

2011-11-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

"A state appeals court says law firm invoices are considered “public records” – and subject to an open records request – because they were “collected under” an insurance contract entered into by the county. The county obtained insurance for legal defense in disciplinary matters."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Plan to restrict public-records data draws mounting opposition

2011-11-19T00:50:00.000-08:00

"Opposition to a proposal to remove certain personal data from court records is mounting and with good reason. Or good reasons, we should say.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has proposed what's known as Rule 31, which would lead to the removal of such information as dates of birth and addresses from court records. The court has sought public comment on the proposal, and it sure got an earful.

We in the news business have long opposed the move because it would make it more difficult for reporters and editors to verify identities and uncover background information on people in the news.

But now, members of law enforcement, district attorneys' offices and the business community have come out against the proposal, for varying reasons."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

D.C. Courts Fight the Future in New Electronic Device Rule

2011-11-19T00:40:00.000-08:00

"The Blog of the Legal Times reports that the Superior Court of the District of Columbia -- the local trial court for the nation's capital -- has issued a new administrative order regarding use of electronic devices in the courthouse. And like other courts, the new rules impose a class system of "haves" and "have nots" -- favored types of the people can have and use the devices, while everyone else can not. The rules also contain an archaic view of electronic devices that effectively means that even when the rules allow them to be used, they cannot be used for any modern, web-based functions."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Free UK Company Director Check

2011-11-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

"Company Director Check (http://company-director-check.co.uk/) is a sister database to Company Check (http://companycheck.co.uk/), which I reviewed earlier this year (http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/01/10/free-uk-company-information/). It provides free access to information on current and past directors of UK companies that until now has only been available for a fee."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Court rules in favor of service of process via Facebook

2011-11-18T23:51:00.001-08:00

Read the order
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Lawyer and client must pay big sum for rigging Facebook, which juror says didn’t matter

2011-11-18T23:48:00.000-08:00

"Isaiah Lester’s slain wife was sitting in the passenger seat when an Allied Concrete truck carrying 36,000 pounds of cement slammed into his Honda Accord on June 21, 2007. The wrongful death suit he filed against Allied and truckdriver William Sprouse in the Virginia Circuit Court in Charlottesville has proved to be another ordeal of reckless conduct.

In late September, a Virginia state judge reduced Lester’s $8.6 million jury award by more than $4 million and found that Lester and his former attorney, Matthew Murray, must be sanctioned for tampering with Facebook evidence. The judge has now ordered Murray to pay $522,000 for instructing his client to remove photos from his Facebook profile and Lester to pay $180,000 for obeying the instructions."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal website removes state workers' historical pay

2011-11-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

"Visitors to the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal website can look up state expenditures dating to 2008.But if the expenditure you’re curious about is a state employee’s salary, you can look them up only through last year.

The local state representative behind the portal, Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said he intends to fix the shortcoming, which was revealed in a Wednesday report by the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

Illinois has been removing information about how much state employees were paid in past years while past departmental spending has remained online, according to the policy institute’s report, “Now You See It, Now You Don’t.” Salary histories used to go back to 2008, policy institute Executive Vice President Kristina Rasmussen said."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Hampshire public employee pensions are a public record

2011-11-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

"The public’s right to know trumps the privacy rights of the top 500 state pension earners, and now their names and salary amounts must be disclosed, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The Union Leader of New Hampshire sued the N.H. Retirement System for access to the names under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court found the need for public transparency outweighed concerns over personal privacy of the government retirees."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Oct 2011

2011-11-02T16:36:00.001-07:00

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Kern County removes data on political contributions

2011-11-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

"It's disappointing and unfortunate that political contributions to those running for office in Kern County will no longer be available on the county Elections Division's website.

The reports were taken offline after local elections officials realized they may be violating a section of the California Public Records Act, which prohibits state or local agencies from publishing the home addresses or telephone numbers of elected officials and certain public employees online. Provisions in the law cover such a large group of people, including almost anyone who works in the criminal justice system, that verifying which campaign contributors might be public officials is virtually impossible.

To comply with the law, other counties redact all address and phone number information from campaign reports before posting them online, either by hand or through the electronic systems used to file those reports."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Illinois adoptees will have access to birth parents’ names

2011-10-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

"Adoptees born 1946 or after will be able to apply for their original birth certificates, which contain the names of their birth parents, as of Nov. 15. Starting last year, those born prior to 1946 could apply. The law was structured that way because the law sealing the records took effect in 1946. The pre-1946 records were sealed retroactively by a 1986 law."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Monitoring juror social media networking sites; “friending” employees of adverse parties

2011-10-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

"You are representing a client in a personal injury matter. During pre trial voir dire proceedings and during the trial itself, can you search for and monitor jurors’ and potential jurors’ Twitter accounts and social network Internet postings? What are your obligations should you uncover evidence of juror misconduct?

You represent a client in a wrongful discharge matter against the client’s former employer. You have reason to believe that certain high-level employees of the employer are dissatisfied and may be likely to post unfavorable comments about the employer on their private social networking pages. Can you send a “friend” request to these employees to gain access to their private social media pages?"
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

EEOC Advisory Opinion on Employer Use of Arrest & Conviction Records During Hiring Process

2011-10-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Office of Legal Counsel released an advisory opinion on employer use of arrest and conviction records during the hiring process."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Delaware to reduce cost for public records requests

2011-10-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

"Delaware Gov. Jack Markell announced this week that he's making it easier and cheaper for people to obtain public records. The First State's leader signed an executive order Thursday in Wilmington requiring executive-branch agencies to adopt a standard policy for handling Freedom of Information Act requests.

Markell says he's also signing a bill creating a standard request form enabling people to easily submit requests online."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: West Texas utility subject to public records law:

2011-10-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

"Win some, then hopefully win some more in the name of government transparency.

That’s the idea, anyway. This week we learned that the state Attorney General agreed with our argument that the Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Corporation is a taxpayer-funded operation fully subject to the laws and dictates of the Texas Public Information Act."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Real theft of ID theft not found in court records

2011-10-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

"Experts on identity theft and law enforcement who investigate the problem agree the real threat to your personal information and your bank account doesn't come from publicly available records.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court is considering new rules that would eliminate birth dates and other identifying information from court records statewide as a response to fears of identity theft. The move would make it virtually impossible to check the criminal backgrounds of those you deal with, but experts agree it won't do much to prevent identity theft.

Richard Varn, executive director of the Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access, has worked as chief information officer for the state of Iowa and the city of San Antonio."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Google Removes The Plus Sign Search Command

2011-10-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

"Google has quietly removed one of the older search operators, the search operator. Now if you try adding a sign in your query, Google will ignore it.

Why did Google remove the old search operator? Kelly from Google said in a forum thread that you can now use the quotation marks operator instead of the operator. She said:"

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: ND Supreme Court considers records restrictions

2011-10-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

"North Dakota's Supreme Court is considering whether to limit Internet access to criminal case records, a move that one opponent says would make an important online information source less reliable.

The court held a public hearing Monday on the proposed judicial rule, which would allow judges to block access to electronic records in criminal cases if a defendant is acquitted, the case is dismissed or the case's paper file is no longer required to be kept."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Illinois doctors database back online

2011-10-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

"As part of his ongoing efforts to increase consumer protections and transparency in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn today launched a website that makes important information regarding Illinois' physicians available to the public. Maintained by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), the site offers consumers the information they need to make good decisions about their families' health care."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Iowa court rules school disciplinary records are not public

2011-10-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

"An Iowa school district does not have to release the details of disciplinary action taken against employees responsible for improperly strip-searching several teenage girls, a court ruled Wednesday.

The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the details of disciplinary cases against public employees are exempt from the state's public records law except when they lead to firings. The court rejected a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which was seeking to learn the level of discipline taken against two Atlantic Community School District employees responsible for strip-searching female students during a theft investigation in 2009."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Federal court makes Wash. petition signers' names public

2011-10-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

"A federal court in Washington state lifted an order preventing the release of the identities of more than 137,000 people who signed a 2009 petition to challenge a Washington law that would extend benefits to same-sex domestic partners."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: 9th Circuit rules for public access to documents in search warrant applications

2011-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

"The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a Montana case that in most instances, materials filed in support of search warrant applications should be available to the public once an investigation is terminated.
The case arose from raids in 2005 and 2008 on the Custer Battlefield Museum near Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had opposed disclosure of the documents, citing the need to protect secrecy regarding witnesses, informants and grand jury proceedings. Attorneys for Chris Kortlander, director of the museum and owner of several businesses at Garryowen, maintained that he and the public had a right to access what he considered public documents."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Google+ Posts Now Tracked and Searchable on Topsy

2011-10-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Topsy, the "real-time search for the social web," has launched a Google+ post search. Along with that search, Topsy offers trend data for Plus."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California Sheriff’s office denies access to 2004 arrest documents saying too much time has elapsed

2011-10-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

"I recently requested information pertaining to a 2004 arrest of a man by the Sheriff. I was told by their Discovery Officer that my request would be denied because the records are so old and I’m no longer entitled to the information under the Public Records Act."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: The ‘Mugshot Racket’: Paying to Keep Public Records Less Public

2011-10-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

"It used to be that mugshots were kept well out of the view. Despite being public records in many states, walls of bureaucracy and simple physical inaccessibility (due to the photos being locked in a police station somewhere) kept them largely out of the public eye.

But the Internet has changed that. Now, those same photos are uploaded to the web on tens, maybe even hundreds, of police and sheriff websites, giving rise to two new online businesses: the mugshot aggregation website and its opposite number, the mugshot removal website. But as David Kravets wrote in Wired, the interaction of these two types of website is more complicated than it seems. And their dealings call into question the reluctancy of states to centralize public records online in the first place."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Personal log-on info often leaks to advertisers, researcher finds

2011-10-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

"Information that could identify you often leaks from major websites to online advertisers because of the practice of embedding such data in the Web addresses shared between sites when a user logs on.

Such data leakage may involve a person's name, user name or email address and is pervasive, though not necessarily intentional, among the most popular websites, said Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford graduate student who has studied the phenomenon and released findings Tuesday."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Texas criminal records database not reliable

2011-10-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

"Criminal background checks used to screen teacher applicants, doctors, nurses and daycare employees may not turn up their arrest records because of critical gaps in the Texas criminal records database, a new state audit shows.

Prosecutors and courts have failed to submit to the state disposition records on about one of every four arrests in 2009, the audit found. While that is a slight improvement from a 2006 audit, it still means that the Department of Public Safety Computerized Criminal History System is not a reliable source for complete information, the audit found."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Pretty Much Everything Related To You And Facebook Is Recorded In Your Facebook Permanent Record

2011-10-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

"Thanks to European data privacy rules, some folks have successfully requested and received a detailed list of all the data that Facebook has kept about them. They've released a redacted version of the document for one person, which comes in at a hefty 880 pages. To be honest, nothing in this is all that surprising, but it does highlight just how much data Facebook ends up with and that it appears to not delete very much, if anything, ever."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Couple Can't Sue CBS for Consensual Taping

2011-10-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

"CBS did not intrude upon a couple's privacy when it videotaped them swimming in a friend's backyard without their consent, even though it later broadcast the video, a federal judge ruled.

Robert Webb's sister-in-law Lisa Stebic disappeared from her house in April 2007. Webb's brother, Craig Stebic, who was in the process of divorcing his wife, was named as a person of interest by the local police."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Courthouse News Sues Ventura Court Clerk Over Press Access

2011-10-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

"Ventura's court clerk was sued Thursday by Courthouse News Service over delays in press access to newly filed cases, a frequent source of news. The delays in Ventura stand in stark contrast to the same-day access to new lawsuits provided by federal courts and big state courts throughout the nation.

"By denying Courthouse News timely access to newly-filed civil unlimited jurisdiction complaints, these records are as good as sealed for an appreciable time after filing, in violation of the rights secured to Courthouse News by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, federal common law, and the California Rules of Court," said the complaint.

The complaint said the news service has tried to work with the clerk, Michael Planet, to no avail."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Sept 2011

2011-10-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Colorado Court of Appeals rules voted ballots should be public records

2011-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

"The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled today that electronic images of voted ballots should be open for public inspection, provided the voter's identity cannot be discerned from the ballot.

The ruling could have a major impact on Colorado election law, though today's decision likely is not the end of the fight.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Scott Gessler said he would use the court's decision as guidance to begin the rulemaking process for how public reviews of voted ballots should be conducted. Gessler has said that public access to voted ballots will improve transparency, and therefore increase voter confidence in elections."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: San Diego newspaper sued over accidental records release

2011-09-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

"A California judge denied earlier this week a hospital district's application for a temporary restraining order in connection with a lawsuit it filed against a San Diego newspaper over the healthcare provider's botched response to a public records request.

Tri-City Healthcare District filed a lawsuit against The San Diego Union-Tribune to bar the paper from "publishing, disclosing, disseminating, or otherwise using" communications that the healthcare provider claims it inadvertently disclosed, in violation of the attorney-client privilege, in response to a reporter's request for executive expense reports and receipts."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: California Gov. Signs Bill Requiring University Disclosure

2011-09-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

"Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill this month that will require California’s public colleges, including Cal State Fullerton, to reveal all financial records, contracts and correspondences.

The AFSCME 3299 Transparency Bill SB 8 requires the governing board of a community college district and the Board of Governors of the California Community to make important records public. It was drafted after the CSU refused to release how much Sarah Palin, former Republican Alaska governor, was being paid to speak."
Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Florida Supreme Court rule will limit personal data in court documents

2011-09-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

"Private information in public court documents will receive a layer of protection by Oct. 1 at the latest under a deadline set by the Florida Supreme Court in July. According to the Palm Beach County clerk’s office, attorneys and those representing themselves must limit personal information in court documents as part of the ongoing fight against identity theft.Sharon Bock, Clerk and Comptroller for Palm Beach County, lauded the Supreme Court decision when it was issued this summer.“In addition to guarding against crimes like identity theft, this latest rule change is a critical step toward making the judicial system more transparent,” she said in a prepared statement.The state Supreme Court had barred access to court documents on the Internet because of potential harm to a person’s privacy, according to the clerk’s office, so tightening up on private information is expected to lead to public access to court records via the Internet.The new rules include limiting the identification of minors to their initials; limiting date-of-birth information to the year; using only the last four digits of a driver license number, passport or other identifying number; allowing only truncated versions of e-mail addresses; and prohibiting in many cases the use of any portion of a Social Security number and bank account, credit and debit card numbers, according to the clerk’s office."Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Montana Supreme Court suspends public access rules

2011-09-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

"The Montana Supreme Court has suspended its rules governing access to court records, a move that a freedom of information advocate says may result in a step backward in the public's ability to obtain or view those documents.

The rules for privacy and public access to court records in Montana, adopted in 2007 and amended the next year, were meant to provide a uniform policy for the state court system in anticipation of the records becoming available on the Internet. The aim was to maximize public access while protecting individual privacy rights."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Chicago crime database goes online

2011-09-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

"Chicago is now posting online every crime over the past 10 years.

Starting today, more than 4.6 million crime incident reports dating to 2001 are posted online in a searchable database. It will be updated daily, providing fodder for residents to evaluate their own neighborhoods, academics to study crime and techie types to create websites or apps.

Until now, crime data was only publicly released in aggregate form on a monthly basis, with data going back 90 days on the Police Department's Clearmap geographic data system."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California University foundations no longer immune to public record laws

2011-09-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

"After three years of legal wrangling, the quasi-public California State University, University of California, and state community college foundations will no longer have immunity from public record laws.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed The Richard McKee Transparency Act of 2011 into law on Wednesday, requiring foundations to disclose financial records, contracts, and correspondence upon request."

Read more
Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

New Philadelphia Ohio Court Dockets Online

2011-09-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

"General information regarding New Philadelphia Municipal Court has been available online for some time.

On Thursday, court records became available online.

Visitors to the website, www.npmunicipalcourt.org, can search court dockets, current caseload and hearing information, as well as closed- case information.

“We have been working toward this for several years,” Judge Mary Wade Space said. “We actually began to upgrade our computer system in 2009, which improved efficiency in transferring data to such agencies as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Supreme Court of Ohio.”

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Jefferson Parish records requests to be posted online

2011-09-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

"Anyone requesting public records from Jefferson Parish under the state's sunshine laws can now expect some light to be shined on their inquiries. The name of anyone making a records request and the cost to the parish for compiling the information will be posted on the parish's website under an ordinance the Jefferson Parish Council unanimously approved Wednesday."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News

Colorado Animal Abuse Registry Would Require Convicted Abusers To Register In Database Similar To Sex Offenders

Illinois bill would open search warrants to public

Sounding a call to action to save our access to the SSDI

California teacher harassment probe is public record

Wisconsin recall petitions may go online

Missouri legislation targets anonymous callers

Private Fund Managers and SEC Registration

EEOC Offers Opinion on the Effect of the ADA on Hiring Practices

Hawaii Bill Resurfaces to Make Public Employee Names, Exact Salaries Private

Ohio court again protects personal information

More municipal documents going online in New York

New Orleans creeps into the digital age as paper records go online

Agencies demo one-stop FOIA portal

Oregon public employees want Legislature to block release of names by PERS

W.Va. lawmakers revisit 'public record' in FOIA

Napa County new Caregiver Permit Program

All Mug Shots Should Be Public, New Times Freelancer Argues In Case U.S. Supreme Court May Hear

Private company hoarding license-plate data on U.S. drivers

Legislation and Compliance Update: Pepsi Settles EEOC Class Charge for $3.1 Million

New Mexico removing crime victim names from state salary database

Arizona Governor Wants Searchable Teacher-Discipline Database

Florida County courts redact personal information from cases available to public

Connecticut State Watchdog Softens Position On UConn Open Records

California Judicial Council ‘Due Diligence’ Talks Suspended

California campaign donors database is back online

Illinois Statewide First Degree Murderer Database

Private Investigator Research Links - Dec 2011

Private Investigator Research Links - Dec 2011

Maricopa County probate records will not be available online

Bexar County criminal cases since '74 now online

Nev. texting while driving law brings fines Jan. 1

Secret subpoena aimed at Twitter user not so secret anymore

Pa. does not have to disclose birth dates

California's New Laws in 2012

Access to some ND court records may be blocked

Tulsa County Oklahoma begins posting court documents online

Vermont panel recommends property taxes be public

New Jersey State Police overtime pay removed from public info search

Arkansas Police disciplinary files open, attorney general says

Nevada Supreme Court expands open records law

California website's glitches block online tracking of campaign donations

Federal court rules SEC can withhold investigation notes

UCSF to Receive Tobacco Papers, Funding to Improve Public Access to the Documents

Maine court hears public access case

Okla. Supreme Court issues rule allowing greater public access to online court records

Posting of LAPD commanders' personal data prompts city action

Facial Recognition Apps Carries Risk of User Privacy Violations, FTC Warns

Library of Congress to receive entire Twitter archive

Arkansas Supreme Court reverses conviction in Twittering juror case

California Court Denies Access to Domestic Violence Registry

Connecticut: Victim privacy vs. open records case

Private Investigator Research Links - Nov 2011

Los Angeles Superior Court class action over court records

License plate reader may invade privacy

Louisiana adoption registry available to birth mothers, adoptees

Wisconsin court decision to keep inmate employers secret appealed

Wisconsin public records law requires disclosure of law firm invoices for county's defense

Plan to restrict public-records data draws mounting opposition

D.C. Courts Fight the Future in New Electronic Device Rule

Free UK Company Director Check

Private Investigator News: Court rules in favor of service of process via Facebook

Lawyer and client must pay big sum for rigging Facebook, which juror says didn’t matter

Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal website removes state workers' historical pay

New Hampshire public employee pensions are a public record

Private Investigator Research Links - Oct 2011

Kern County removes data on political contributions

Illinois adoptees will have access to birth parents’ names

Private Investigator News: Monitoring juror social media networking sites; “friending” employees of adverse parties

EEOC Advisory Opinion on Employer Use of Arrest & Conviction Records During Hiring Process

Private Investigator News: Delaware to reduce cost for public records requests

Private Investigator News: West Texas utility subject to public records law:

Private Investigator News: Real theft of ID theft not found in court records

Google Removes The Plus Sign Search Command

Private Investigator News: ND Supreme Court considers records restrictions

Private Investigator News: Illinois doctors database back online

Iowa court rules school disciplinary records are not public

Private Investigator News: Federal court makes Wash. petition signers' names public

Private Investigator News: 9th Circuit rules for public access to documents in search warrant applications

Private Investigator News: Google+ Posts Now Tracked and Searchable on Topsy