Andrew Brandt
For three miserable months in 1993, I shared a house in
Oakland, California, with a bunch of college dropouts and recent
graduates who
were in an awful band. Since then, I've tried to forget everything
about the
place, including the address. But I found out that a host of online
investigation services know all about that dark period--and lots of
other
details about my personal life. And they can probably dig up lots of
information about you, too.
The Web is rife with spam and banner ads that promise to "get the
scoop
on anybody." And the background check business has been booming since
September
11. Many employers run checks on job applicants, and some landlords
demand a
background check if you want to rent an apartment or house.
I hired some online gumshoes to research me. In the end, a lot of the
personal data they dug up and reported was either misleading or simply
incorrect: One set of digital detectives indicated that I might have
been
convicted of a felony in Texas (sorry, wrong guy). That kind of
mistake can
cost you a job, a home, or a significant other.
I hired three services:
ChoicePoint.net,
USSearch.com,
and
WhoisHe.com.
The sites' prices range from $20 to $100, depending on how much
information you
want them to unearth.
All three services found my previous addresses, some going back ten
years. USSearch's query also turned up the names of the owners of
buildings
where I lived, and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of former
neighbors
(most of whom I had never met).
ChoicePoint found a hit for "Drew Brandt" on a Texas database of
felony
convicts, but it thoughtfully noted that the possible ID doesn't
"match all
necessary criteria"--that is, the service's investigators couldn't say
for sure
whether I'm an ex-con (which, by the way, I'm not).
I also discovered that, in several cases, clerical errors introduced
mistakes into my history. One search associated my Social Security
number with
someone named Bobby Williams.
How can you ensure that your personal information isn't up for sale?
In
some cases, unfortunately, you can't do much. Marriages, mortgages,
and other
public records will always be accessible. You have a little more
control over
private transactions. Request that the three major credit reporting
agencies (
Equifax,
Experian,
and
TransUnion)
restrict access to your credit report to companies you do business
with, and
check their reports for errors. Contact your bank, your insurance
company, and
your investment company, and ask them not to share your data with
third
parties, partners, or subsidiaries. Protecting your data today could
save you a
mountain of trouble tomorrow.
Andrew Brandt a senior associate editor for
PC World. Address e-mail to
consumerwatch@pcworld.com.
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