privacy

Privacy

Consumers and the Internet

Introduction

A trend of great concern is the partnership of major consumer directory services with companies that compile so called “public-records” databases. Such databases compile records from a wide variety of government agencies, including courts, vital statistics departments, tax rolls, elections records, or agencies that regulate professional licenses. In addition, some companies also purchase data that is mined from questionnaires, applications for credit cards, manufacturer’s warranty information and other commercial sources.

Revenues are often the primary motivators for state agencies that license or sell access to their databases.

Web access to these data aggregators only broadens a growing problem inherent in these data services: consumers do not have access to the public information maintained about them and disseminated by the look-up services. Accordingly, consumers will not be able to check for inaccuracies resulti...