Information is everywhere. There’s more information out there than we realize, and those who know how to find what they’re looking for can do so with ease. Many of us are not even aware of it, but public records are available online for anyone to access. This has different implications for different people. Some readers would think that it isn’t that big a deal, because they’ve got nothing to hide. Others do have something to hide and would prefer that public records involving their names are not out there for everyone to find with a simple Google search. For many others, they just value privacy and feel like it shouldn’t be that simple for anyone with an internet connection to access, even if nothing incriminating exists.
In short, it all comes down to privacy. But it does make one wonder – why is so much personally identifiable information (PII) available online? To be honest, the law dictates that certain types of public records are available for citizens to access. Apparently, it’s for the greater public good. The difference now, however, is that it has just become a whole lot easier to access these records, what with the internet being ubiquitous. Let’s take a look at why removing public records from the internet is so important.
First Things First – What Are Public Records?
Basically, public records constitute information that has been recorded by public agencies. These records are created by the federal and local governments (in the case of the US, for example).Â
Let’s look at this further, using more definitive examples, so that you’ve got a good idea of some of the things that fall under the category of “public records”. Criminal records make up public records, as well as driving records, marriage licenses and certificates, birth certificates, real estate records, and immigration records, among others. You’ll also find that voter registration, tax information, occupational licenses, as well as government contracts with businesses fall under this category. Already, we’re able to see that access to public records can tell a lot about a person. In many cases, one can extrapolate an individual’s entire life story from what’s available about them in their relevant public records. Additionally, records that are linked to financial documents for government programs are also often on public record, so you’re likely to find a lot of sensitive information among those.
Where Can I Find Public Records?
Now, here’s where it gets interesting as this has changed a lot in recent years. These records are kept as physical files, so they’re kept in “real”, physical locations somewhere and you’re able to access them and take a look at them if need be. However, it’s not always that simple to gain access to public records, even though they are available to the public – as their name suggests. Taking a look at the Public Records Act (PRA), one notes the following – “except for certain explicit exceptions, personal information maintained about an individual may not be disclosed without the person’s consent.”
The digital age, however, has changed the situation, making it a whole lot easier to access public records where you don’t have to go to a physical archive and retrieve such documents. Some government entities create basic websites where records are available for the public to access over the web. And then there are other government entities, including courts, who work much like data brokers – they sell public records to other entities like data compilers. Now, those data compilers make free public records accessible for a certain price. Basically, you pay to access public records. Usually, however, you might have a limited number of views or limited access from their platform before you need to pay a fee in order to access more documents or features on the website.Â
The Problem with People Search Websites
The last point mentioned above is basically how people search websites – or people finder websites – function. They gain access to publicly accessible information and make it simple for literally anyone online to be able to find personal information about you or anyone else. Think about everything we mentioned so far, all the kinds of documents and information that fall under the “public records” category. People search sites allow others to access all that info.Â
Public Records and Identity Theft
What’s more, these platforms or “services” also collate other information about you. For example, having extrapolated and mined information from public records, they’ve usually managed to figure out your email address(es). So, what you’ll often find on a people search website is what people’s social media accounts are – the ones linked to their email addresses. Another scary, but very real problem with these sites is that vitally sensitive information, like your Social Security number, appears on one’s public records, so those who look you up would likely have access to this data, too.
Clearly, we can see there’s a problem if such information is so easily accessible, especially when one had to follow some sort of protocol if you wanted to access them physically, in the past. There’s a rising issue, both in the United States and globally, linked to this phenomenon – identity theft. Increasingly prevalent, it’s the kind of crime that has devastating effects on the lives of victims. Anyone could fall victim to the crime, at any time. One of the many terrifying things about this crime is that, for the most part, you only know you’re a victim once it’s too late.
How to Remove Public Records from the Internet
Commitment to the cause is key. First of all, look yourself up on search engines. Don’t just use Google, but search yourself on other popular search engines, too, because you don’t know what you may find. Once you have an idea of the sites on which your information can be found, you’d have to go about contacting each one and issuing removal requests in order to have public records pertaining to you removed.Â
If you find your name on people search sites, this might be tricky. While you might issue a removal request on one such site, there are over 100 out there, so you’d have to do the same on all the others. Even so, these sites often trawl the government databases periodically, so your information might pop up on them again in future. In this case, it could be wise to use a service to keep checking up on this and to do it on your behalf.
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