MSNBC.com has a piece on national commercial database searches(thanks Markus!).
[Update: According to the NY Times, Reed Elsevier, owner of the LexisNexis databases, said (reg req’d) today that Social Security numbers, driver’s license information and the addresses of 310,000 people may have been stolen, 10 times more than it originally reported last month. Seisint states that so far, 2 percent of the individuals contacted about the breakin have responded, and none of those have experienced any form of identity theft.]
Rhonda Taylor, CEO of Intellisense Corp:
Spotty participation by the nation’s 3,100 county courts, along with a hodgepodge of data formats, make national crime databases vastly incomplete.
We’ve done tests, and the national databases have a 41 percent error rate,” she said…there is a glaring issue related to a false sense of security if that information is relied upon with no other investigative tools.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., hosting a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday on “Securing Electronic Personal Data: Striking a Balance Between Privacy and Commercial and Governmental Use.”
Jeff T. Collins, CEO of Integrated Screening Partners:
…If people get an (electronic) criminal background check and think their problem is solved, they are fooling themselves.
Nothing beats a blend of background checks, Googling and street smarts. Just yesterday a female friend, who I consider very intelligent, said she was going to sell something to a random stranger on Craigslist and wondered if she should have him come by her house to pick it up! My European friends all think it’s fine to have a first date come by and pick you up at your place. Cultural norms are at play as well.
