Publicly Available Records

My husband was telling me about this website, Tiger Direct.  It sells electronics- kind of a New Egg website.  Well, evidently, after placing an order the website has a message that it will be checking your identity from publicly available vital records (so, things like your SSN, birth date, address, your relatives...and especially any tickets or arrests you've received).  Now, I can see how they want to make sure that they're not selling to criminals, BUT-

You're honestly going to confirm my identity to fulfill my order????

In fact, the website goes one better- they actually ask YOU to put in your DOB, home address, and SSN so that it will "speed the identity verification process".

o_O

Now, I don't know if they actually check or if this is just a ploy to get you to enter in personal information, but it seems quite illegal.

But it's not.

It's publicly available information.  It's the type of information that James Garner (remember Rockford Files?) used to request from the Vital Statistics office.  Now, the difference between what this company, and MANY others are doing, and the government is that the government demands identity from those requesting the information.  They also want to know WHY you are requesting the information because they won't release vital statistics on living persons without a valid reason.

Take for example trying to get a copy of my marriage certificate.

I could either go down to the Public Records/Vital Statistics office, stand in line, pay for parking, and waste hours to get a lousy piece of 8 1/2 x 11 photocopy paper with an official date stamp on it,

OR

I could order online.

hmmm- want to guess which one I picked?

Well, it turns out that the State of Minnesota demands a NOTARIZED signature on the receipt, verifying your identity....which means that now I got to print out the receipt and go wait in line at the bank before I could mail back the receipt from my "free online purchase", just to get a copy of my marriage certificate....FOR THE BANK.

So, that's fun, huh?

But my point here is that the marriage certificate was MINE. They prompted me with all these identity-confirming questions (the eID), and I still had to get a notary to confirm my identity.  These other websites provide the same information to anonymous people who want it for any reason...and the price is the same as buying it from the government...even cheaper in some cases.

I've been a victim of a stalker, so I know what it's like to find out that people YOU DIDN'T TELL know where you live, your unlisted phone number, and your license plate.  My goal in the next few blogs is to share how to remove your personal information from these websites because, legally, they have to let you "opt out".

If you want a real scare, start by searching for yourself or a family member on Dex Online.  Isn't it nice to know that the whole world only needs to look in the phone book to confirm your age?