Cyber-detectives: The power of the Web helps investigators track information ?
As a local private investigator, Kelly Riddle tracks down criminals, cheating spouses, corporate outlaws and other ne'er-do-wells on a daily basis. He typically uses phone taps and night cameras to get his information. Four years ago, he added the Internet to his investigating arsenal.
Anyone can be a gumshoe in cyberspace, says Riddle, who has 18 years experience as a private eye. "It's all here," says Riddle, who teaches a course in investigating on the Internet. "You just have to know where to go and what you want." Whether you're looking for a distant relative or doing a background check on a local pediatrician, the Internet offers a wealth of information a phone call alone may not provide. "Liens, judgments, lawsuits…most of that information is public domain and most of it is free of charge," says Riddle.
Riddle explains that the only on-line information that is off limits to the general public is usually personal information that could be misused, such as driver's license histories, employment and credit histories, social security number traces and criminal records. He adds, however, that most confidential information is accessible over the Net at a nominal fee per record or per month for a subscription to a Web site service. "You can still find out about sexual offenders, parolees, vehicle registrations, bankruptcy records, education and professional license verification, as well as civil and criminal histories online," says Riddle. "The question is: Is one of the two parties breaking the law by offering that information?"
Indeed, not all of the truth is out there on the Information Super-highway. With an estimated 400 million Web sites already floating around in cyberspace, how do you know if a site is credible? Riddle says the best way to delineate fact from fiction in your cyber-sleuthing is to consider the source. "Any information you get is simply an unverified lead," he says. "You still need to get another source to verify it-cross reference it with another source."
