THE CUTTING EDGE: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Finding Public Records on Private Individuals Proves Startlingly Easy

What’s in a name? Plenty, if you have a computer, a modem and a few dollars to spend.

Starting with just a name, I can learn your address, phone number and Social Security number. If you own a house, I can find out what you paid, how big it is and more. I can see if you’re registered as a Democrat or a Republican, and whether you’ve got an auto loan. I can also find out what you drive and, depending on the state, your driving record and date of birth. I can tell whether you’ve ever been charged with any crimes in California or sued in any civil matter. I can often determine whether you’re married, or if you’ve been divorced, and to whom. Once I have your partner’s name, I can do the same thing all over again for your spouse.

Private eyes, savvy reporters and others with a need to know have always made use of public records for finding things out, but a specialized breed of on-line services is fast obviating all the legwork and haphazardness of the public records searching that I knew when I was a wet-behind-the-ears muckraker. Instead of trips to the courthouse and bleary hours poring over dusty files and obscure microfiche, these services are putting a staggering array of information on just about everybody at the disposal of anyone with a PC and a modem.

As things stand, these public records aggregators, if we can call them that, provide their services by subscription only, but eventually you can expect to see similar services available on the Internet, where even casual users paying a one-time fee can gain access to powerful public records searching tools.

Sure it’s spooky. It’s one thing for records to be open to the public, which as a practical matter has generally meant open to anyone who knows what he or she is looking for and is willing to take the time to look. It’s another thing entirely for records to be indexed in an increasingly coherent way, nationally instead of just locally, and across several categories, so that you can easily search court dockets, Uniform Commercial Code filings, corporate reports and more.

Aside from privacy issues, consider the security implications. It’s easy to learn someone’s Social Security number, for instance. Yet I know at least one giant national investment firm that lets you transact all your business by phone as long as you can verify your identity by providing--you guessed it--your Social Security number.

*

On the other hand, these records really are public, and computers connected by modems and phone lines are a means of dissemination that won’t go away. Banks, insurance companies and others use this information to weed out fraud, and whether you like it or not, even more information about you is available to businesses through the three major credit reporting agencies. (Credit reports are also available through these same public records aggregators.)

I recently tested one of these services, CDB Infotek, and found it to be easy and fast, but not necessarily complete. Infotek claims to be the largest service of its kind, giving its customers access to more than 2.5 billion public records, but certain kinds of records are unavailable for some states (Infotek says it is strongest on California, New York and Texas) or for periods after 1987.

Moreover, much of the information available on-line is in the nature of an index; for instance, your search might turn up a divorce in some far-flung county seat. If you want to read the divorce papers, someone has to go and retrieve them in person. (CDB has has a nationwide network of correspondents who, for a fee, will obtain a copy of the records for you.)

Using Infotek requires only a PC, a modem and any standard telecommunications program. Oh yes, it also requires money. There is a one-time enrollment fee of $199 and a basic charge of $25 per month after that. In addition, each search costs something (although you get $99 of search time free in your first month).

In order to test the service, I got $250 in search credit from CDB, which I used up in about 90 minutes of searching. That may sound expensive, but it’s a pittance when thousands or even millions of dollars might be at stake in a business deal or lawsuit. Moreover, I had no training; skilled searchers--the company offers many free classes--probably can do things more efficiently.

You’d be amazed what you can find out. As I said, I started with nothing more than my name. Using Infotek’s surname search feature, I found myself among 53 Aksts nationwide. The surname scan yielded my phone number and city of residence.

Then, using California property records, I easily found my house, along with its street address, annual tax bill, purchase price and date, number of rooms, square footage, lot size, mortgage and so forth. I even learned what the sellers paid just four years earlier. Armed with an address, I used Infotek’s “address update” feature, which yielded my year of birth, Social Security number and two previous addresses.

*

But this is really kid stuff. One of the most striking things about Infotek is the way it can scour the country for you in just a matter of seconds. Using its “asset finder” feature, for instance, it looked all over the western United States for any other property I might own. Then I used the “background” probe, and Infotek instantly searched county and municipal courts throughout California, as well as state licensing records (for contractors, physicians and the like), accident victim records of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Federal Aviation Administration pilot listings, and bankruptcy records, liens, judgments and corporate filings throughout the West. (I could have easily searched other parts of the country as well.)

Bear in mind that, in my searching, I was constrained in a way that many businesses are not. I couldn’t access individual credit reports, California motor vehicle records or Dun & Bradstreet reports, all because of various legal restrictions that a firm, attesting a legitimate need, could overcome.

On the other hand, I did have access to what are known as “Social Security tracks,” described by an Infotek customer service rep as the header portion of credit applications from the three major credit reporting agencies. These “tracks” showed roughly when I’d lived at some previous addresses, where and when my Social Security number was issued, and that I sometimes use Dan instead of Daniel.

Daniel Akst can be reached at Dan.Akst@latimes.com. His World Wide Web page is at https://www.caprica.com/~akst

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Record Access

There are two big players providing on-line access to public records.

Privately held CDB Infotek, based in Sanat Ana, can be reached at (800) 427-3747. CDB8s main competitor is the Atlanta-based Information America unit of West Publishing, which can be reached at (800) 532-9876.

Both of these are voice lines; you need an account before you can use either service.