28 décembre, 2006 14:57
Internet Research Digs Up Private Matters
The personal data you can't find through public records is often available online
By Carole Levitt & Mark Rosch
Law Technology News
December 28, 2006
I know your mother's maiden name, your date of birth, your address and the price you paid for your house. I also know the name of the person who officiated at your wedding, the names of your children (and their dates of birth), the number of times you've been divorced and how much you inherited from your great aunt. I know the amount of your liens, the type of tattoo you sport (and its location on your body), your political persuasion and your religion. I even know if you are mentally ill -- and I've never met you.
I know all this because you live in a jurisdiction where public records (state and local) are abundantly free and accessible by anyone with a computer and an Internet connection.
While public records are made available to give notice to and protect the public, and to advance commerce, savvy lawyers access public records because they contain treasure troves of government-held data about people and companies. This data can be useful for: 1) locating anyone who has "gone missing," 2) tracing heirs or 3) investigating the background of a potential client, new partner, a witness or the opposition.
But, what if public records are not available in the jurisdiction you're interested in? What if government agencies and commercial database companies require a requestor to provide his or her name and the reason for accessing someone else's public records? What if your target is always informed of your access to their records?
Or, what if more privacy laws are passed and a record that is public today becomes private tomorrow? For example, drivers' licenses, were considered public until federal legislation deemed them private in 1994 (Driver's License Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA), 18 U.S.C. 2721 et seq.). But it took six years and a U.S. Supreme Court case to stop states from treating them as public and selling the data (Reno v. Condon, 528 U.S. 141 (2000)). And there are still exceptions to the DPPA so the records may be accessible in some instances.
How likely are these scenarios about losing access to public records? Based on trends we're seeing in jurisdictions around the country, very. As more people realize that the Internet has opened their public records to the masses, resulting in a loss of privacy and more potential for fraud, stalking and identity theft, there will be more clamoring for the government to close the gates to the information flowing out of public records.
Even if the gates are not closed entirely, much of the useful (to lawyers), sensitive or personally identifiable information from public records will be redacted.
Software now exists, and is being used in some jurisdictions, to retroactively redact this data from older public records. It won't be long before this software will be applied to current electronically-filed documents before they are posted to the Internet or sold to commercial database companies.
Although our prediction for the future is that data from public records will become more difficult to access, we do not predict the demise of a lawyer's ability to anonymously investigate someone's background. Instead, lawyers will have to conduct their investigative research "outside the box" of public records -- and this may be easier than you think, because people increasingly post sensitive, personally identifiable information to the Internet via blogs, Web sites, podcasts, group discussions and social network sites.
Here are examples of how you can use Web sites to find people or to learn about their background:
Social networking: Trying to track down someone's address and you've had no luck using their name? Consider tracking them through teenage children's names by visiting social network sites like
myspace.com or www.facebook.com.These types of sites are now even sprouting up for boomers and elders, as evidenced by
www.eons.com. Visit it to learn if the person you are trying to track has a profile.Social networking sites are not the only place people are posting personal information about themselves. A family law attorney recently shared an anecdote about the embarrassing information that her client posted to an online dating site discovered by the other side. To dig up dirt, see sites such as
match.com or jdate.com.Classmates.com is not just for reconnecting with your long lost classmate. It's the secret weapon of many private investigators. Search by a woman's maiden name and you might discover her married name. Search by a company's name and date range to identify people who worked at the company where your client was sexually harassed. You just might find a willing witness.
Blogs: If you need to learn about someone's background, cell phone or fax number, read their blog. People typically add personal information to their blogs, not to mention provide a taste of their personality. For example, judging from the entries on a well-known lawyer's blog, he clearly has a dry sense of humor. This is something you would not learn from his profile at his traditional law firm Web site. Look for blogs at search.blogger.com.
Podcasts: What better way to learn about someone than listening to their podcast? You might learn about the opposition expert's real opinion as you listen. Search for general topic podcasts at Ipodder, and legal topic podcasts at The Blogs of Law, www.theblogsoflaw.com.
PowerPoint presentations: Some expert witnesses' Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from conferences get posted to their Web site or the conference Web site. You may not only be able to learn what that person really thinks by viewing PowerPoints online, but by looking in the editing mode, you can read their notes.
Find PowerPoints by using the Advanced Menu on Google (or Yahoo), entering a person's name into the search box and then limiting your results to the file format PPT.
Better yet, is there some inside information you could retrieve from a corporate presentation posted online? Inside information from Google Inc. was uncovered this way. Locate someone's PowerPoint presentation by searching at www.google.com/advanced_search.
Google Groups: Is your client -- the one who was involved in an automobile accident -- on methadone? Do you believe another client had no notice until November 2002 that his company's product was defective? Take a walk through the community of Google Groups to see if your client publicly discussed his woes in a discussion group, or if others are discussing your client's products. The results might change your case strategy.
When the public record floodgates narrow or are closed completely, the amount of information you can find about people will only be limited by the time and energy you have to surf the Internet -- and your ability to think outside the box.
