Conference turris::womannotes-v2

905.0. "Checking up on your sweetie via computer" by ULTRA::ZURKO (We're more paranoid than you are.) Tue Dec 19 1989 11:50

I found this funny, and irritating, and disconcerting.

I'm over 300 notes behind here, so feel free to pull this if someone's already
posted it.

From:	DECSRC::"[email protected]" "RISKS Forum  11-Dec-89 2020 PST"
To:	ISKS-LIST:;@UNKNOWN
CC:	
Subj:	RISKS DIGEST 9.53

RISKS-LIST: RISKS-FORUM Digest  Monday 11 December 1989   Volume 9 : Issue 53
 
        FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS 
   ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator
 
Contents:
  Computerized public records boon to private eyes probing suitors
    (Jay Elinsky, Jon von Zelowitz)
[...]
 
The RISKS Forum is moderated.  Contributions should be relevant, sound, in good
taste, objective, coherent, concise, and nonrepetitious.  Diversity is welcome.
CONTRIBUTIONS to [email protected], with relevant, substantive "Subject:" line
(otherwise they may be ignored).  REQUESTS to [email protected].
TO FTP VOL i ISSUE j:  ftp CRVAX.sri.com<CR>login anonymous<CR>AnyNonNullPW<CR>
  cd sys$user2:[risks]<CR>get risks-i.j .  Vol summaries now in risks-i.0 (j=0)
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 89 21:44:06 EST
From: "Jay Elinsky" <[email protected]>
Subject: Computerized public records boon to private eyes probing suitors
 
>From "Boy Meets Girl, '89, Can Be a Detective Story" by Dirk Johnson, in
the New York Times, 10-Dec-89, Page 1:
 
  "Computerizing of public records in recent years has proved a boon to
  investigators, who say they can find out almost anything simply by
  keying a Social Security number into a computer...  `It's usually very
  easy', said Ed Pankau, the president of Inter-Tect [a Houston investigative
  agency], who is the author of `How to Investigate by Computer'."
 
The context of the article, from the lead paragraph: "Eager to trust but
determined to verify, many single women in this age of risky romance are hiring
private detectives to check the backgrounds of their suitors."  A few
paragraphs later, "Women are far more likely than men to hire an investigator,
and usually their suspicions are on the mark, detectives said."
 
In this case I'm tempted to call easy access to records (assuming it's legal) a
benefit instead of a risk.  Then again, I got married ten years ago, and my
fiancee's investigation of my background was more traditional, like meeting my
parents and using her "feminine intuition".  And the article ends with a
non-computer-related risk: The woman who is the subject of the article had
three men investigated and found "skeletons in their closets".  The fourth man
she investigated was a-ok, and she was so thrilled that she told him he had
passed the investigation.  He wasn't thrilled to hear that he had been
investigated.  "`He kind of freaked out', she said.  `But then, as I tried to
explain why I did it, he understood, kind of'.  She added, `We're not dating
anymore.'"
 
Jay Elinsky, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 89 00:10:10 PST
From: [email protected] (Jon von Zelowitz)
Subject: Don't Give Social Security Numbers to Girlfriends
 
[...]  For $500, the Inter-Tect investigative agency in Houston promises to
verify within a week a person's age, ownership of businesses, history of
bankruptcies, if there are tax liens, appearance in newspaper articles, as well
as divorces and children.  Some clients have paid the detective agency as much
as $10,000 to unearth secrets.
 
"People want to find a quality partner," said Mr. Pankau, who is a former
investigator for the Internal Revenue Service. [!-jvz] "I wouldn't say they're
paranoid, but they're very cynical."
 
    ...sun!adobe!vonzelow   [email protected]   Jon von Zelowitz
 
[...]

     The information age- great ain't it?
    
    The Doctah

    
    oh boy, am *i* in trouble
    

Scary, to me.  This information can also be used by some crazy guy with a 
crush on or hatred of someone that he doesn't know.   Celebrities, for 
instance, try to keep their addresses private, and that info would most
likely be among the easiest to access.

         Carol

    
    Yeah, men are such evil beasts...
    
    You have to positively vett those slimy devils, as there's no
    telling *what* they might do... 
    
    Even the ones who *sound* reasonable might have a *dark side*...
    
    
    

According to a news show, California now allows people to give "alternative
addresses" to the motor vehicle department.  This is intended to give
more privacy to movie stars (and is a reaction to the killing of an
actress by someone who had a crush on her and used a private detective
to discover her home address).

As I recall, your "real" address is also on file, so people with good
access to the system (banks/insurance companies/police) will still
be able to get the information, but ordinary folk won't.

Martin.

    According to today's San Jose Mercury News, as of January 1st all
    Department of Motor Vehicle residence records are confidential. They can
    be released only to police, courts, government agencies, banks, and
    insurance firms.

	"It stems from the death of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who was killed
	at her Los Angeles home by a man who obtained her address from DMV
	files."

	-- Charles

>	"It stems from the death of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who was killed
>	at her Los Angeles home by a man who obtained her address from DMV
>	files."


	 In our paper, the article said that in California, people
	 were now allowed to used "alternate addresses" on their
	 driver's licenses.  But that their real addresses would be
	 retained in a confidential database.

	 Then they referred to the Rebecca Schaeffer incident (btw,
	 the guy that killed her is the son of my sister's friend.
	 Scary how close to home it hits).

	 kat