Online tools promote amateur sleuthing

"The bar's hopping. The guy's hot. She's curious. He's mysterious. She decides to go gumshoe on him.

The bathroom stall becomes her office, the smartphone her secretary. And using a tech tool like DateCheck that can scope out a potential partner's background in a Philip Marlowe minute, she's cleared him for a romantic go-ahead.

Case closed.

From the ladies room to the chat room to the tweet-stream in the next cubicle, America is becoming a society of amateur spies. With a burgeoning arsenal of websites offering cheap tricks to sniff out subterfuge, abetted by multitudes baring their souls on Facebook, everyday life has become a realm of nonstop intrigue: Spouses are snooping, business competitors are spying, sexting celebrities are apologizing, and everyone's following President Ronald Reagan's advice to trust but verify.

"Everyone's checking out everyone else," says Wolfgang Kandek of Qualys, a Redwood City firm that helps companies like Facebook store and guard their confidential data. 'Once you put information online, it's there forever. So you can look someone up on Facebook, look at their house on Google Earth, and follow them around on Twitter.'"  
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Louisiania law enforcement not excluded from private investigator licensing

"The executive director of the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners says discussions have been held through the years about changing the state laws governing private investigators to exclude law enforcement officers.
“It’s suggested from time to time, but it just hasn’t happened,” said executive director Pat Englade. “There are departments, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, that don’t allow it as part of their own policies, because of the possible conflicts.”
J.A. Oster, a West Monroe private investigator, said he brought the issue up a number of times during his 13-year board tenure. “I could never get the votes on the board that were needed,” Oster said.
The News-Star learned that Sterlington Police Chief Barry Bonner had been issued a private investigator license and formed a limited liability corporation, Rogue Private Investigations. There have been past issues in Ouachita Parish about police officers having a PI license and the possible use of National Crime Information Center and ThinkStream materials, which other PIs would not have access."
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Unlicensed private eyes a problem in California

"When you hire a private investigator in California, you are supposed to get someone with at least three years of training or a background in law enforcement. But as the I-Team discovered, that is not always what you get.

The state's private investigator trade group is cracking down on unlicensed private eyes using undercover stings. Some use fake names; some even have a criminal past."
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Location Oakland, Ca - Private Investigator

Private Investigator Research Links - Week of January 22

• Cayman Islands General Registry of Companies

• National Motor Vehicle Title Information System

• Index of American Universities

  As home pages are found for American Universities granting bachelor or advanced degrees, they are added here, one page per university."

• Citation Styles, Style Guides, and Avoiding Plagiarism

  "How do you cite sources? The means to identify sources is to provide citations within your text linking appropriate passages to relevant resources consulted or quoted. This can be done through in-text parenthetic notes, footnotes, or endnotes. In addition, a bibliography or list of works cited, is almost always placed at the end of your paper. The citation system and format you use will be determined by the citation style you choose. "

• Authenticating Web Pages as Evidence

  "As you approach the witness with printouts of the web pages, you are stopped in your tracks: "Objection, lack of foundation." "

• Old telephone books and telcom museum

  "We maintain and operate one of the nation's largest privately held telecommunications archives, operate two museums and conduct educational programs on telephone history."

• iMapflickr.com: Embeddable Google Map and Flickr Mashups

  "iMapflickr.com allows non-techie users to create fully customizable embeddable google maps of geocoded flickr photosets or search results. You can use it to create maps of your own photos, or other users."

• CrowdEye - About Us

  "CrowdEye is a new generation of search engine which looks at the worldwide web in a new way. By tracking discussions on Twitter, we can help our users find out what’s important to them right now in real time."

The rest of my favorite links are here.

Don't hire an unlicensed private investigator

"Tichinin didn't find any evidence after a bungled spying attempt at a Huntington Beach hotel in February 2004 that involved two cups of hot chocolate being ordered to Tewes' room by unlicensed private investigator Brian Carey. Tewes became suspicious that he was being followed. Tewes made a lot of noise as he exited his room, and then hid in a hallway alcove and waited, assuming he would be followed. Moments later Carey walked by with a video camera, which he shut off upon seeing Tewes."

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Location Oakland, Ca - Private Investigator