Investigating People:
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Transcript Investigating People:
Public Records
Research:
Sources, Search Tips and
Legal Basics
Workshop Web Site
www.virtualchase.com/wsu/
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Workshop Objectives
Recognize public vs private information
Identify potential public sources of
private information
Understand the limitations of electronic
government records
Review major online public records
research tools
Grasp the basics of how law affects
access and use of personal information
Public vs. Private
Information:
Finding What You Want to
Know, Legally
What’s the Difference?
Public records
Private information
Public information
Quasi-public
information
What is Public Record?
Government records
Used to mean no access restrictions
Rapidly changing both online & offline
Redacted personal identifiers
Court, property records
Business filings (incorp’s, dba’s, UCCs)
Public co. filings (EDGAR)
Professional licenses
Many agency records (IP, inspections)
But …
Not all government records are
public record
What is public record varies by
jurisdiction
Rapsheets: public in PA, but not in NC
Marriage certificates: public in NC, but
not in MD
Changes Affecting
Public Access or Status
County recorder docs (deeds, tax liens, births,
deaths) - mandatory or voluntary removal of
SSNs
TX – AG op mandated removal of SSNs from all
county court records; superseded by law (2007
HB 2061)
AR – redact personal info from all court records
except the court transcript (court rule)
CO – court directive mandates removal of
sensitive info from court docs (2005, amended
in 2007)
Changes Affecting
Public Access or Status
Several states, including MO, NY, CA,
CO, AZ, OR, NM, VT pull UCC images
from Web site (2007)
Plea agreements – removed from S.D.FL
and E.D.PA
NY – removed crimes resulting in 15
days or less in jail from criminal histories
provided by the NY Office of Court Adm
Oneida County, NY – gives online access
to recorder docs only to certain groups
Impact on Research
More time & money for on-site
research and retrieval
Greater skill
Knowledge of sources
Tenacious investigative skills
More than ever, online research
supplements on-site research
Manage client/patron expectations
Keeping Up with
Changes
Industry experts find it difficult
TVC Alert Research News
www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/
BRB Public Records Blog
publicrecordsblog.typepad.com
PI Buzz
www.pibuzz.com
What Is Not Public
Record?
FBI criminal records (NCIC)
Income tax records
Juvenile court records
Any government record where
access is restricted by law. In some
states…
Criminal histories (rapsheets)
Vital (birth, death) records
Vehicle ownership
What Is Private
Information?
Personal or confidential
SSN or date of birth
Unpatented formulas
Undisclosed business practices
Medical and financial records
Bank account information
Credit reports
Private Information May
Become Public When …
You volunteer it
Publicly listed telephone number
Product registration forms
Online résumés, blogs, forums
You disclose it in a public record
Assets in a divorce filing
Names of minor children in a bankruptcy
filing
SSN in real estate documents
The public observes it
Where you work
What’s Quasi-Public?
Access restrictions & limited info
released
Life insurance policies
www.mib.com
MIB’s Policy Locator Service
Military records
Select information only
Requires written request
Some state criminal repository records
May require fingerprints
May require signed release
Determining Public
Status
Major federal privacy laws
FCRA & FACTA (consumer)
•
15 USC §6802(e)
Gramm-Leach-Bliley (financial)
•
15 USC §1681b
DPPA (driver)
•
18 USC §2721
State open access laws
Vary from state to state
BRB Publications Inc.
www.brbpub.com
Leading publisher of U.S. public
records reference works
The Sourcebook, 8th ed.
Public Records Research System
Public Record Retriever Network
(free)
Free government record sites
Public Record
Research System
Annual subscription fee
Arranged by state/county
Gives public status of government
records
Informs how to obtain records
Provides contact information and
Web sites, when available
Test Your
Understanding
True or false. If
the information
you seek is not
public record, you
cannot find it out
– legally or
ethically.
Public Records
Research:
It’s All About Sources
Facts About Online
Records
35% of public records are online
Many are incomplete or inaccurate
Lack identifying information (SSN, DOB)
Lack disposition (or up-to-date) data
Online verification is difficult
Many free government sources do not
provide personal identifiers
Verify by requesting a copy of the original
record
On-site copy may not contain identifiers
SSN Validator (www.ssnvalidator.com)
Primary Sources
Who/what
generates the
data?
Who/what is
responsible for its
collection,
maintenance or
use?
Finding SSNs & DOBs
Online if you are lucky
Filing forms changing to stop requesting
SSNs
Tax liens, UCCs
Deeds, mortgage documents
Bankruptcy filings
Vehicle accident reports
Divorce, custody filings, probate records
Property foreclosures (court records)
Death certificates
Finding Information
About Private Companies
Identify regulating agencies
Restaurants, food handlers (Health depts.)
Human tissue, donor services (FDA, Health
depts.)
Manufacturing (EPA, OSHA)
Licenses and permits
Business organization
Special (liquor, gambling)
Professional (insurance, doctor, dentist)
Background check the owners
Major Online Sources
U.S. Party/Case Index
pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov
EDGAR
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Excluded Parties List System
epls.arnet.gov
LexisONE
www.lexisone.com
The U.S. Party/Case
Index
Federal civil and criminal lawsuits
Bankruptcies
Register w/PACER to access
Check “Courts Not On Index”
Lastname, firstname
Searching middle initials
Sometimes indexed, sometimes not
For everything, search without
EDGAR
2 search options
Header data only
Full-text for past 4 years
Full-text option: Find mention of people
or private companies within documents
Supports Boolean or Natural Language
Operators must be capitalized (AND, OR,
NOT)
More on EDGAR
Conceptual search engine
Search for chocolate might retrieve cocoa
Case sensitive searching
But recent queries suggest no difference
between Donald Trump and donald trump
Supports proximity (NEARn)
Supports wildcard (*) truncation
Undocumented – supports nesting
Excluded Parties List
System
Contract or financial assistance
debarments or suspensions
Separate search for past exclusions
Supports wildcards (green* or anders?n;
differs from partial search)
Verification necessary for persons
No identifiers (SSN, dob) online
No street address for persons
Street address provides for companies
LexisONE
Free case law
Federal
U.S. Supreme Court (all opinions)
Appellate courts (current 5 years)
No district (trial level) courts
No special (tax, military) courts
State
Mostly appellate level; sometimes only high court
Current 5 years
Fee access to public records and verdicts &
settlements
Finding Tools –
General
BRB Free Resource Center
www.brbpub.com/
pubrecsites.asp?h=1
Black Book Online
www.blackbookonline.info
The Virtual Chase
www.virtualchase.com/topics/
Database of Sources
Finding Tools –
Specific
Legal Dockets Online
www.legaldockets.com
Business Filings Online
tinyurl.com/qp3xd
Portico Personal Property
tinyurl.com/r3y3y
Criminal Records
www.virtualchase.com/topics/
criminal_records.shtml
Commercial Vendors
AutoTrackXP (CPO), Accurint (LN),
Merlin
Mix private & public information
Access requires permissible use
Contract details permissible uses
Statutory restrictions (GLB, DPPA)
Many commercial vendors disallow use
for FCRA-regulated activities
Public Records
Research:
Legal Issues
Major Federal Privacy
Laws
Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB)
15 USC §6802(e)
Financial records
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
15 USC §1681b
Consumer reports
Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA)
18 USC §2721
Driver records
Permissible (Legal)
Uses
Each law has its own exceptions
Business reasons
Litigation and other legal reasons
Employment reasons
Other (signed written permission,
court order)
Permissible Uses
Generally
Fraud prevention or detection
Legal or beneficial interest
Compliance with another law
Fiduciary on behalf of consumer
Current litigation or arbitration
Service of process
Pre-trial investigations
Enforcement of judgments
Permissible Uses—
FCRA
Consumer reporting agencies (CRAs)
People or entities that perform outside
research for employment or other FCRA
regulated purpose (15 USC §1681b(a))
Special obligations to the research
subject might conflict with duty to client
Inside researcher (e.g., employer) is not
a CRA
Example FCRA
Regulated Activities
Pre-employment & employment
Exceptions under FACTA
Insurance underwriting
Consumer credit transaction
Determining eligibility for a license
issued by a government agency
FCRA Is Complex
You (the outside researcher) cannot
run a criminal background check on
a client’s prospective employee
without the interviewee’s consent
(and fulfilling other obligations).
But the employer can run a criminal
check w/o consent and disclosure if
he does the research himself.
FTC Interpretive
Guidance
FTC Staff Opinion Letter
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/
sum.htm
Haynes-Sum, 15 September 1999
Law firms could be CRAs under the Act
FCRA covers any information used for
a regulated purpose, including public
records
Interesting Case Law
Remsburg v. Docusearch, 816 A.2d
1001 (NH, 2003)
tinyurl.com/kpd7w
Researchers owe a duty to exercise
reasonable care not to subject the
research subject to an unreasonable
risk of harm
Test Your
Understanding
Do you need a
permissible use
(legal reason) to
access public
records?
Open Access Laws
and Privacy Issues:
Keeping Up with the Changes
Professional Reading
BRB Public Records Blog
publicrecordsblog.typepad.com
PI Buzz
pibuzz.com
Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press
www.rcfp.org
TVC Alert Research News
www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/
Public Records
Research:
Company Research and
Business People
Finding Personal
Identifiers
Becoming increasingly difficult
Commercial vendors (LN/Accurint,
CPO/AutoTrackXP, Merlin)
Disclosed in public records
General Web searching
Online résumés, personal Web sites
(blogs, MySpace), discussion forums,
Martindale-Hubbell, Who’s Who, bios
Common Name
Searching
Need personal identifiers for verification
Full name, SSN or date of birth
Helpful in combination w/a name
Profession, occupation or industry
Hobbies, interests
Residence, place of work
Memberships, affiliations
Difficult for both manual research and
online searching
Researching Business
People
Professional licenses
+ disciplinary data**
Business filings
Court records
(including
bankruptcies and
liens)
Case law
News stories
Campaign donations
Intellectual property
Authored works
Congressional
testimony
Agency comment
letters
EDGAR, SEC
“litigation” Web site
Internet Archive
**Often includes telephone research
Free Search Tools for
Business People
ZoomInfo (www.zoominfo.com)
EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml)
Authoratory (www.authoratory.com)
Social networks
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) targets
business people
MySpace
Facebook
Wink (queries multiple social networks +
special Web sites)
Due Diligence Research
on Companies
Databases by regulating agencies
MAUDE (medical devices, tinyurl.com/3nbzt)
FCC (filed comments, tinyurl.com/4f83)
OSHA Accidents (tinyurl.com/ruudd) &
Inspections (tinyurl.com/ms4rw)
Envirofacts (www.epa.gov/enviro/)
Integrates data from 7 EPA databases
GPO Access (www.gpoaccess.gov;
Federal Register, Congressional Record,
hearings)
Search Engine
Strategies
For best results, run multiple queries in several
search engines
“donald trump”
“donald j trump”
“mars inc”
“mars incorporated”
Common name + what you know
“gary price” + librarian
Uncommon last name + what you know
tyburski + “ballard spahr”
Query limiters
site:.gov or site:.state.xx.us
Search Engine
Strategies Cont.
"not for public dissemination"
"not for public release"
"official use only" (variations
include FOUO and U//FOUO)
"company confidential"
"internal use only"
Final Questions?
Presenter Information
Genie Tyburski
Web Manager, The Virtual Chase
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll,
LLP
EM: [email protected]