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30 May 08
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Genie Tyburski, Web Manager, The Virtual Chase
Originally published in The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research (November/December 2005).
Corporate clients' need for information from public records runs the gamut from validating a businessperson's credentials to gaining a competitive edge in the marketplace. Clients might ask you to assess a potential partner's reputation, find assets, identify ownership, affiliations or relationships, discover activity in a certain field or geographic region, determine consumer reaction to products or services, uncover evidence of legal problems, or conduct research on just about anything that pertains to doing business. Often stimulating intellectually, such work requires attention to detail, creativity, persistence, patience and the ability to elicit information from people who don't know what they know. In other words, it demands superior research skills.
Since you are reading The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, chances are you already know how to conduct research. But success in public records research means acquiring special knowledge and honing telephone and paper research skills. As the latest statistics indicate, online searching will take you only so far. Sixty-five percent of public records remain offline. Of the 35 percent online, many contain no personally identifying information. (Public Records Online, 5th edition, Facts on Demand Press, 2004, p. 12.)
This article explains important differences between public records, public information and private information. It introduces select public records databases and search techniques. It would take a book to cover all worthwhile sources. It's a good thing, then, that public records publisher, BRB Publications, Inc., offers several.
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13 Mar 06
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