Background-Check Software Goes Retail

Makarand writes "According to this article in the Mercury News, ChoicePoint Inc., one of the nation's largest vendors of personal, financial and legal data is attempting to mass market a background-check software tool-kit which can be used to tap into ChoicePoint's online databases. Choicepoint requires that you have a business license to run a small business to use this software. However, as users of these services are rarely audited or asked to produce their business license, the purchaser can potentially conduct criminal background checks, Social Security number identification and other checks on anyone for a small fee. Privacy advocates are cautioning that making background-check software a consumer product could easily put personal information into the wrong hands."

Comments

This is a Good Thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Knowledge of each of us is only valuable if distribution is limited. If everybody knows everything about everybody, lots of problems simply go away: people are suddenly no longer able to use irrelevant superficial criteria to make decisions if the expect to succeed. (Those naive zealots who continue to do so will fail when all the dirty, scummy, real people out there with actual skills get hired up by their competators.)
Everybody has to grow up in a world where this data is free.

Key point in the ideal being that the data has to be free. Cheap and ubiquitous is a good first step toward free.

Everybody always focusses on "no data collected" as the right answer for building a good world. "All data public," I think, makes an equally good, perhaps more mature, world.

Re:This is a Good Thing

[tabdelgawad]

I think you're right, but for the wrong reasons. "All data public" is not a world I want to live in. But I do want to live in a world where I *know* what part of my data is public, what part is semi-public, and what part is private. I also want to know under what conditions the data moves from one category to another.

For example, I know my name, phone number, and address are public (in the phone book). I know that my web surfing habits are private. I also know that I lose the privacy of web-surfing in case of a subpoena (Patriot Act not withstanding) or if I'm silly enough to allow spyware on my PC. I know that snapshots of my financial info are available to many businesses if I authorize them (credit checks if I apply for a loan/credit card, sometimes even for jobs/housing).

What I *don't* know is what a person who knows my public info can (legally) dig up about me without my consent. I'll bet I'd be surprised at how much they can find out. If background check software/services go retail, everyone will become aware of the limits of their privacy, and that's why this is a "Good Thing".

Re:So now...

[pvt_medic]

Well lets see take a college database of student IDs, run it through this and you have probably 8,000 viable people to rip off. And for all of you who think that the university closely protects our data, i cant tell you how many times a teacher will post grades by SSN or even seen name and SSN. I try to explain to them that its illegal, and against university policies but i gave up when the university posted a list of kids by social security numbers. Dont need to slip for someone to get my data, idiots like that give it out for free.

Business License

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, maybe they have good intentions, but really??? I am 21 yrs old and have a Federal Tax ID to run a business (obtained for free through the IRS) and I can obtain a legitamite business license for around $50. So another words, I could use my FREE Tax ID and cheap business license to get this software and run background checks on anybody I want?? All I need is a social?? And a "forged" application of some sort (in case of an audit, I can "prove" they applied). Gee, save me some time researching on the internet. /me doesn't exist. You don't know me.. I'm a ghost... no really, I am. I love my privacy so LEAVE ME ALONE!! Take this software out of production.

Re:Oh no!

[sTalking_Goat]

half my resume used to be made up jobs. I used to use the names of defunct Start-ups during the dot-com bomb. Of course they couldn't be verified since they no longer existed. Luckily in the past few years I've gotten some actualy experience and wiened the lies off of my resume.

perople lie on their resume all the time

It's Already in the Wrong Hands

[edward.virtually@pob]

Given that ChoicePoint is the same sleazy outfit that conspired with the Bush family and the GOP to corrupt Florida's election results in 2000 (see this article and others), it's too late to keep it out of the wrong hands, and also explains why they have no qualms about irresponsibly allowing any (other) crook to get their hands on it. Pathetic.

IP database

[mabu]

IMO, one of the most valuable pieces of information available in the future will be personal information associated with static IP addresses. I suspect many entities are busy compiling "IP databases" and this would be a product that could be of great use to both businesses and individuals who might want to identify users on their web sites, people on IM/IRC systems, or the senders of pseudo-anonymous e-mail.

Even a single company like Amazon.com likely has a huge database of IP addresses associated with detailed customer information (imagine if an information broker started consolidating this information across many sites). Due to the almost non-existant privacy laws in this respect, Amazon, or anyone could sell this information. You get an e-mail from someone you don't like? With their IP address you can get their name, address, phone number, etc. Anyone who wants to gather a mailing list of people who have visited their web site can run a cross-reference of the web logs against these sorts of databases. As more people move to DSL and cable, with static IPs, a database of this nature becomes the missing link to make most Internet activity un-anonymous.