IP: Police Records For Anyone's Viewing Pleasure

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Bill Keeshen <keeshen () pacbell net>
Reply-To: keeshen () pacbell net
Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 13:33:08 -0700
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Police Records For Anyone's Viewing Pleasure


"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."  James Joyce   Sadly, the internet
changes the meaning of one of my favorite quotes.


__________________________________________

By Leslie Walker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 23, 2002; Page E01


I should have known the Internet would spawn a RapSheets.com, but I confess
it took me a while to grasp the scary part of putting digital dossiers
online.

A few weeks ago, RapSheets.com began selling national criminal background
checks for $20 to $30 a pop. The tiny Tennessee firm claims its new criminal
directory is the most comprehensive on the Internet, encompassing 50 million
criminal records in 36 states (it includes Virginia but not Maryland or the
District).

RapSheets.com is among a new breed of info-brokers racing to roll up public
records into mega-databases, and then using the Internet to sell personal
information that historically has been hard to access.

RapSheets.com, which got its start providing some local criminal records, is
ramping up at a time when background checks by employers are skyrocketing,
propelled by security fears in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In addition to criminal files, all sorts of records -- bankruptcies,
divorces and civil lawsuits -- are moving online into interconnected
databases that allow searching in ways never before possible.



<Snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59991-2002May22.html


Bill Keeshen

"Some people think of the glass as half full. Some people think of the glass
as half empty. I think of the glass as too big.
------ George Carlin


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