It seems like you can find out an awful lot about other people with a public record search, does it not? Whether or not this is a good thing is certainly up for debate, though. But the point remains that your history, and that of many others, are sort of up for grabs on the internet, so who is watching out for you? And why are you looking for anybody else?
To begin, why would one want to do a search on an individual. Businesses in the process of hiring individuals certainly would, and have long relied on information provided from those who know the applicant. This serves to weed out liars and otherwise undesirable individuals from entering into that particular work place. This seems fair enough to most.
Another common example of acceptable background checks is when entering into a lease agreement. After all, would you want to rent an apartment to a person who writes bad checks or has been evicted previously? Chances are that you would not. Whether or not this is fair is debatable for certain, but the fact that this sort of information gathering is commonly practiced is not.
Potential mates have been known to look each other up online, with mixed results. Some dating coaches advocate looking up things like financial records and arrest reports of potential partners. While this is usually rather difficult to do, some have had some success, much to the embarrassment of others.
As to those with pasts, or questionable presents, many have been irreparably damaged by dug up dirt and gossip. An example is the spate of homosexual outings that occur from time to time. Here lines may be crossed as well, for what consenting adults do on their own is up to them, or so it would seem. Some feel that public figures deserve greater scrutiny. The problem is that with the internet we all have the potential for being a public figure.
This is not to say that this sort of information is all bad. In fact, some has been tremendously good. Families have been reunited, children separated at a young age have found each other, and genealogists are at the forefront of putting together vast amounts of personal information into historical wholes. Research of this type, in general, has been very beneficial to many.
Doing a public record search is something that is available to all of us. Whether you are the searcher or the one being searched seems to skew the opinion one has on the process. Privacy is changing very rapidly in this electronic age, so where does the responsibility lie? Perhaps the individual on either side of this issue should rethink their reasons for doing so.
To begin, why would one want to do a search on an individual. Businesses in the process of hiring individuals certainly would, and have long relied on information provided from those who know the applicant. This serves to weed out liars and otherwise undesirable individuals from entering into that particular work place. This seems fair enough to most.
Another common example of acceptable background checks is when entering into a lease agreement. After all, would you want to rent an apartment to a person who writes bad checks or has been evicted previously? Chances are that you would not. Whether or not this is fair is debatable for certain, but the fact that this sort of information gathering is commonly practiced is not.
Potential mates have been known to look each other up online, with mixed results. Some dating coaches advocate looking up things like financial records and arrest reports of potential partners. While this is usually rather difficult to do, some have had some success, much to the embarrassment of others.
As to those with pasts, or questionable presents, many have been irreparably damaged by dug up dirt and gossip. An example is the spate of homosexual outings that occur from time to time. Here lines may be crossed as well, for what consenting adults do on their own is up to them, or so it would seem. Some feel that public figures deserve greater scrutiny. The problem is that with the internet we all have the potential for being a public figure.
This is not to say that this sort of information is all bad. In fact, some has been tremendously good. Families have been reunited, children separated at a young age have found each other, and genealogists are at the forefront of putting together vast amounts of personal information into historical wholes. Research of this type, in general, has been very beneficial to many.
Doing a public record search is something that is available to all of us. Whether you are the searcher or the one being searched seems to skew the opinion one has on the process. Privacy is changing very rapidly in this electronic age, so where does the responsibility lie? Perhaps the individual on either side of this issue should rethink their reasons for doing so.
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