Government Intrusion into SSN & Public Record Access

Recently, I had the opportunity to view a discussion about public records, social security access and other information which is useful to every private investigator. The main theme was the current pulse of public opinion and how or why our government feels the need to get involved.

The Government Issue

This was from a self proclaimed 'public records junkie and life-long observer of people'. "Politicians are interested in only one thing – getting elected or re-elected. They can only do that if they morph themselves into someone who will ease the fears of the potential voters.

When it comes to privacy, there is more than enough fear on both sides – the liberals are afraid of the corporations keeping track of them. The conservatives are afraid of the government keeping track of them. It's a rare and strange place where two opposing groups can meet and agree on one thing – public records are a threat!

When you restrict reasonable access to public information, you immediately shift it to the black market. On the black market, information as innocuous as property taxes is now in the same category as your income tax information or your medical information – it's for sale on the UNREGULATED black market. When people who are looking for seemingly harmless information, if it's not public record, they must turn to the black market. And when they're shopping on the black market, the catalog also includes the most private information.

By limiting the access to public records for 'legitimate' (constitutionally protected) reasons, the government is inviting crime, corruption and the biggest threat ever to some one's privacy.

Politicians will respond to fear. So will their potential voters. So this will inevitably create a wonderfully unhealthful fear of their personal information ending up in the hands of ruthless criminals."

Be Vigilant - ACT Now

Don, a California PI wrote: "If you cannot do this for you, then do it for your fellow PI brothers and sisters. Get-up and out of your slump, put your coffee cup back in its holder, and let us all let these misinformed hysterical politicians know that you are no longer going to sit back and allow them to put more prophylactics on your toolbox. For his Holiness' sake! Do something for someone else instead of just sitting around, drinking beer, and burping on your way to relieve yourself!

Act NOW! This is the right time to speak up. BUT, pack a lunch this is long-haul work. We must be prepared to collectively continue the campaign to stem the tide of record closure. Stop thinking about you and start thinking about the millions of people who rely upon our expertise and resourcefulness to help them in their times of need.

Politicians are trying [and succeeding] to convince themselves and their constituents that PIs are "rogues, unregulated, selfish, and, above-the-law vigilantes" that we must be stopped from accessing their "personal records." One piece of BAD press for us per week is greater than the daily pounding the current administration receives. However, the difference is: the current administration has resources and clout to fight back; PIs (with the exception of NCISS), at this moment, have neither!

We must disabuse the public's perception into believing "PIs are bound to misuse access to personal records; therefore, we must close their access to our records!" For this very reason, politicians think PIs should be denied access completely…"

Whether you are pro or con on the carry issue, this is blatantly wrong! Yet, why is there nothing but a deafening silence on this issue? Does this silence suggest what I am saying now about records access?

How did all of this evolve without a tougher fight? Did commonsense escape us all?

You all must be heard immediately! Get the word out to all licensed PIs. Remember, this fight is not about your personal philosophies… it is about returning the teeth to the PI Act as a whole. Do we want what we have eroded further or do we want to regain our rights to pursue our righteous endeavors? Please do not act to suit your individual needs, act to meet the over all needs of the PI Industry."

Bottom Line

Does this make you angry?? Are you feeling guilty for not being part of the solution?? Take Action!!

Below is a sample letter to use to forward to your congressman or congress woman.

Click HERE to locate your congressman or congress woman's email, phone, fax, local address and/or DC address.

What is your excuse now? Get-r-done!!

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

___________________________________________________________


Honorable ………. September 27, 2007
Member of Congress
VIA FACSIMILE (or electronic mail)

Dear Representative…:


I am writing to express my concern with HR 948, the “Social Security Number Protection Act” and HR-3046, the “Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Protection Act”.

It is generally not recognized that a high percentage of the fraud, identity theft, and other crimes and all of the torts winding through our civil and criminal justice systems are investigated by licensed private investigators, not law enforcement personnel.

Law enforcement does not have sufficient resources to investigate many crimes. Many law enforcement agencies have substantial loss thresholds which preclude their accepting all but the largest of financial losses. Investigators have handled cases involving losses of more than $75,000 that have not met these threshold levels.

While it sounds good and reasonable to ban the “sale or purchase” of Social Security numbers, doing so will make it unlawful for investigators in the private sector to access the many databases which are necessary. Not allowing an exception for legitimate investigations in the private sector will, in the end, cripple our system.

Though unintended, the SSN has become the primary and universal identifier on which most identifications revolve. Locating witnesses and determining the correct identity of defendants, plaintiffs and witnesses is essential to our courts.

Recognizing that many investigations of criminal suspects and all criminal defense investigations are conducted by private investigators, the Senate Commerce Committee included necessary exceptions in S 1178, the Identity Theft Prevention Act. We are asking the following language (similar to S-1178) be adopted in HR 948 and HR 3046 if they are to continue to be considered:

. . .to the extent necessary to prevent, detect, or investigate fraud or unauthorized transactions, to verify identity, to locate missing or abducted persons or witnesses to an ongoing or potential civil or criminal lawsuit, criminals, criminal suspects, parties to lawsuits, parents delinquent in child support payments, organ and bone marrow donors, pension funds beneficiaries, missing heirs, and for similar legal, medical or family related purposes . .

Should you have any questions, please contact me or my association’s Washington representative, Larry Sabbath at 703-426-1976. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Is Your Cell Phone Bugged?

Cell phone stalkers terrorizing families

Unknown cell phone stalkers are still wreaking apparent techno-havoc in Fircrest, Washinton, foiling the collective efforts of investigators from four police agencies who can’t figure out how the sneaky feat is accomplished.

“We’ve done eight search warrants,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer. “One of our tech guys who should be looking for child porn has spent 50 hours doing nothing but this. This is nothing any of us have ever seen before.”

Cell Phones Remotely Used as a "Roving Bug"

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.

The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call."

Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."

Because modern handsets are miniature computers, downloaded software could modify the usual interface that always displays when a call is in progress. The spyware could then place a call to the FBI and activate the microphone--all without the owner knowing it happened.

"If a phone has in fact been modified to act as a bug, the only way to counteract that is to either have a bugsweeper follow you around 24-7, which is not practical, or to peel the battery off the phone," Atkinson said. Security-conscious corporate executives routinely remove the batteries from their cell phones, he added.

This is a REAL threat - be careful!

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

Get the Weather Report for a Specific Date

Do you need to find out what the weather was for a specific date, time and location? You can find the national high and low temperature for every day since April 1995 on this USA TODAY resource page.

Here are a few GREAT resources for this historical data;

• Here is an example of the weather report for Ontario, CA
  Sunday, June 19, 2005; (Free)
• usatoday.com/weather/ (Free)
• worldweatherserver.com (Free)
• weather-warehouse.com (Paid Service)
• Almanac.com - BEST Site & FREE

Enjoy!

Patrick L. Baird

Private Investigator

Free Website for Genealogy & Locating Someone's Date of Birth

If you find yourself in need of a persons date of birth, you should look at The USGen Web Project.

This site has a wealth of FREE information. This site was developed by a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.

Organization is by county and state, and this website provides you with links to all the state genealogy websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and this website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well.

Enjoy!

Patrick L Baird
Private Investigator

Social Security Number Access & Credit Headers Become Illegal!!

This is what all private investigators, bail bondsman, skip tracers, lenders, financial institutions, insurance companies and eventually the entire US population will see enacted by government officials if we are not vigilant.

If you are average Joe from Nebraska you simply shake your head, scratch yourself, stop reading and say; "WHO CARES!!"

Everyone should care! If HR 948, the “Social Security Number Protection Act” and HR-3046, the “Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Protection Act” become laws this will mean more protection for the criminals and deadbeats and ultimately lead to higher interest rates for all concerned.

(from my blog dated September 6, 2007) ".......we simply can not stand still and watch the tools in our arsenal be taken away from big brother, in doing so government officials (on all levels) are simply helping the criminals and deadbeats.

If the government continues this practice the industry hit the hardest will be the financial industry. We will witness the demise of skip tracing altogether. This industry will no longer have the tools to effectively contact, locate or even communicate with the very people that owe them money.

What does that mean to 95% of the people that pay their bills on time, higher interest rates and less money in our pockets!!"

Help protect these rights for us. Please email or fax the following letter to your member of Congress where you reside and work.

Whether or not you are participating in the NCISS Hit-the-Hill campaign in DC on October 4th, we still need letters sent to Congress before that time. If you would like to assist us in DC please visit www.nciss.org for further details. Thank you in advance for assisting us in this important matter. If you can not assist us please consider making a donation and writing a check to the NCISS Legislative Fund.

Get involved!!

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator


___________________________________________________________

Honorable ………. September 21, 2007
Member of Congress
VIA FACSIMILE (or electronic mail)

Dear Representative…:

I am writing to express my concern with HR 948, the “Social Security Number Protection Act” and HR-3046, the “Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Protection Act”.

It is generally not recognized that a high percentage of the fraud, identity theft, and other crimes and all of the torts winding through our civil and criminal justice systems are investigated by licensed private investigators, not law enforcement personnel.

Law enforcement does not have sufficient resources to investigate many crimes. Many law enforcement agencies have substantial loss thresholds which preclude their accepting all but the largest of financial losses. Investigators have handled cases involving losses of more than $75,000 that have not met these threshold levels.

While it sounds good and reasonable to ban the “sale or purchase” of Social Security numbers, doing so will make it unlawful for investigators in the private sector to access the many databases which are necessary. Not allowing an exception for legitimate investigations in the private sector will, in the end, cripple our system.

Though unintended, the SSN has become the primary and universal identifier on which most identifications revolve. Locating witnesses and determining the correct identity of defendants, plaintiffs and witnesses is essential to our courts.

Recognizing that many investigations of criminal suspects and all criminal defense investigations are conducted by private investigators, the Senate Commerce Committee included necessary exceptions in S 1178, the Identity Theft Prevention Act. We are asking the following language (similar to S-1178) be adopted in HR 948 and HR 3046 if they are to continue to be considered:

. . .to the extent necessary to prevent, detect, or investigate fraud or unauthorized transactions, to verify identity, to locate missing or abducted persons or witnesses to an ongoing or potential civil or criminal lawsuit, criminals, criminal suspects, parties to lawsuits, parents delinquent in child support payments, organ and bone marrow donors, pension funds beneficiaries, missing heirs, and for similar legal, medical or family related purposes . .

Should you have any questions, please contact me or my association’s Washington representative, Larry Sabbath at 703-426-1976. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Make $200-$300 for Digging Through Trash - Join Dumpster Diving Network

Dumpster Diving by Definition:

1. The practice of sifting refuse from an office or technical installation to extract confidential data, especially security-compromising information (‘dumpster’ is an Americanism for what is elsewhere called a skip). Back in AT&T's monopoly days, before paper shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks used to organize regular dumpster runs against phone company plants and offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT&T internal manuals taught them much. The technique is still rumored to be a favorite of the private investigation industry operating against careless targets.

2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker's den. Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of moldering (but still potentially useful)

Information Diving:

In addition to offering useful items like food and clothing, dumpsters can also be a source of information. Files, letters, memos, phone records, photographs, IDs, passwords, credit cards and more can be found in dumpsters. This is a result of the fact that many people never consider that sensitive items they throw in the trash may be recovered. Such information, when recovered, is sometimes usable for fraudulent purposes including identity theft, however when the information is in the hands of a Licensed Private Investigator it can be the key to solving a crime, finding missing children, insurance fraud or locating a bank account in order to satisfy a judgement.

How to Capitalize on this Little Known and Undesirable Practice:

"I Dumpster Dive" is a subsidiary of Intelligent Ops International, Inc. This company has compiled a national network of Licensed Private Investigators that will eagerly (not really) do the dumpster diving for your case.

Here is some information from their website:

Dumpster Diving Private Investigator

We are Private Investigators specializing in Dumpster Diving and Trash Recovery based in Southern California but serving Nationwide.

Our Trash Recovery Private Investigators conduct professional trash recovery investigations as a supplemental service to an ongoing investigation or for Judgment Enforcement/Recovery Specialists.

Our Dumpster Diving Private Investigators will perform Dumpster Diving operations within the legal boundaries of the law to gather information for civil, criminal, and financial proceedings.

Our Dumpster Diving and Trash Recovery Investigators will correctly document, use approved evidentiary techniques, and still maintain discretion and anonymity while conducting a Dumpster Dive and/or Trash Recovery Operation.

Kudos to this company for their ingenuity!

Patrick Baird
Private Investigator

Nationwide Criminal Records Check

There are four different kinds of records, all of which are all referred to as "criminal records."

1. Arrest Records—law enforcement records of arrests.
2. Criminal Court Records—local, state or federal records.
3. Corrections Records—prison records.
4. State Criminal Repository Records—statewide records made up of arrest records, criminal court records and correction records.

There is no such thing as a Nationwide Criminal Records Check

When a conviction occurs, there are several possible sentences. For example, the defendant may have to perform community service, pay a fine, or might be placed on probation. Sometimes the defendant will be sentenced to incarceration. When an individual is incarcerated for a misdemeanor, they will be sent to jail, rather than state prison. If, however, it is a felony conviction, the defendant may be sent to either jail or prison. Generally only the most violent felons, serious drug abusers, and repeat offenders are sent to prison. Records of imprisonment in state prison are called corrections records. Arrest records, criminal court records, and correction records are sent to the state criminal repository.

The Mythical Nationwide Criminal Records Check

While the National Criminal File (NCF) search sounds extremely good, the reality is that there is no such thing as a nationwide criminal records check. Even the FBI database is not truly nationwide. The FBI database, National Crime Information Center (NCIC) does not include most misdemeanors. Many records never make their way to the FBI because the records must be sent from the county to the state and from the state to the FBI, and frequently there are breakdowns in the process.

Nevertheless, the NCIC database is the closest thing that we have to a national criminal database, and it is far more comprehensive than the NCF.

The vast majority of the data included in the NCF is made up of corrections records. Again, only the most serious criminals are sent to state prison.

The entire article is very informative, please click here to read.

Patrick L. Baird

Private Investigator

Check Out Your Investment Broker Before Handing Over Your Nest Egg!

For Individual Brokers

• Current employing firm(s)
• Employment experience for the past 10 years (this includes full- and part-time work, self-employment, military service, unemployment, and full-time education)
• “Other business” engaged in by the individual (excluding non-investment-related activity that is exclusively charitable, civic, religious, or fraternal, and is recognized as tax exempt)
• All approved registrations (provided the individual is currently FINRA registered)

Disclosure Information:

1. Criminal events (all felony charges and convictions; specified investment-related misdemeanor charges and convictions)

2. Regulatory actions taken against an individual by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), other federal regulatory agencies, states, self-regulatory organizations (SROs) or foreign financial regulatory authorities that result in a finding of a violation and/or sanction or the issuance of an order

3. Revocations or suspensions of authorization to act as an attorney, accountant or federal contractor

4. Civil judicial actions (e.g., injunctions entered in connection with investment-related activity)

5. Pending civil proceedings that could result in a reportable civil judicial action

6. Pending investigations and regulatory proceedings that could result in a regulatory action as described above

7. Written consumer-initiated complaints reported within the past 24 months alleging sales practice violations and damages of $5,000 or more

8. Written consumer-initiated complaints reported within the past 24 months alleging forgery, theft, misappropriation or conversion of funds or securities

9. Consumer-initiated complaints alleging sales practice violations that settled for $10,000 or more

10. Consumer-initiated arbitration proceedings and civil litigation alleging sales practice violations that are either pending, resulted in an award or civil judgment against the individual, or were settled for $10,000 or more

11. Bonding company denials, payouts or revocations

12. Unsatisfied judgments and liens

13. Bankruptcy proceedings, compromises with creditors and direct payment procedures initiated under the Securities Investor Protection Act within the past 10 years

14. Employment terminations after allegations of: a violation of investment-related statutes, regulations, rules or industry standards of conduct; fraud or wrongful taking of property; or failure to supervise in connection with investment-related activity.

Enjoy...

Patrick L. Baird

Is it Legal to Record a Conversation or Phone Call?

At first, the question of whether or not to tape record a phone call seems like a matter of personal preference. Some journalists see taping as an indispensable tool, while others don't like the formality it may impose during an interview. Some would not consider taping a call without the subject s consent, others do it routinely.

The real question; Is it Legal to record a conversation or a phone call? This is a great question and the answer depends largely on the state where the recording takes place.

The following site has a QUICK reference to state-by-state laws that pertain to recording a phone call or conversation.

Enjoy.

Patrick Baird
Private Investigator

Nationwide Wants & Warrants Check - Fact or Fiction?

We all know that the NCIC's (National Crime and Information Center) data if OFF LIMITS to anyone outside law enforcement, so the question is this;

How accurate and reliable is the information returned from a database service when performing a National Wants and Warrants Check?

The answer I found was no, it is not gospel. Here is further definition about this database from an online source:

"The National Warrants database contains information from a variety of sources. Warrants from International sources are included such as Interpol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and many other international sources. Inside the United States the database contains warrants from Federal sources such as The Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Marshall Service, and many others. On the State level the database contains records from a variety of state agencies such as Departments of Correction, Probation and Parole Boards, Attorney Generals, State level law enforcement departments. On the county level the database contains warrants from municipal courts, district courts, justices of the peace as well as county sheriffs, district attorneys and more. On the city level the database contains warrants from city police departments, city courts and more.

The types of warrants in the database range from misdemeanor warrants for bad checks, traffic violations, failures to appear, unpaid fines, felony warrants for parole or probation violations, robbery, rape, forgery, kidnapping or murder.

Although the database does have warrant records in all 50 states it is not a complete record of all warrants nationwide. We have attempted to provide current and accurate information, but incorrect information may appear. This information is not to be used as a confirmation or probable cause that any warrant is active. Information contained herein should not be relied upon for any type of legal action. We cannot represent that this information is current, active or complete. You should verify that a warrant is active with the reporting agency. Additionally, persons appearing on the warrant database may be already in the custody of a law enforcement agency.

Wanted persons may use false identification, which could cause the warrant to contain a name, date of birth, or other information not belonging to the subject of the warrant. Such false information may or may not be designated as an alias on the warrant."

You have been warned....
Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

Save Credit Headers

HR 3046 and HR 948

Below the line is a sample letter to email or fax to your member of Congress as soon as possible. It covers two important bills presently pending before the House Ways and Means Committee that will deny access to use of the SSN, thus eliminating credit header information.

Please take a few minutes and send this out as soon as possible - our industry can not let this happen!!! You may locate the contact information for each member of congress by clicking here.


I appreciate your anticipated and immediate attention to this important matter!


__________________________________________________


Honorable ……….
Member of Congress
VIA FACSIMILE (or electronic mail)

Dear Representative…:

I am writing to express my concern with HR 948, the “Social Security Number Protection Act” and HR-3046, the “Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Protection Act”.

As a private investigator, I perform many functions of which the public may not be aware. Professional investigators use databases to help us locate individuals for a variety of important purposes. We assist identity theft victims to restore their good names. We use such data to locate witnesses in order to present best evidence at trial, and in fact, have used such data to free innocent individuals falsely convicted! Last year our association brought a man to Washington who had been falsely imprisoned for 20 years until an investigator located a witness who recanted his testimony. In addition, we have used such information to locate deadbeat parents, find heirs and recover stolen funds.

When I’m looking for someone with a common name, the Social Security number is essential for making a correct identification. Imagine looking for John Smith in New York! It is the key element necessary for databases to make accurate identifications.

These bills would prevent licensed investigators from having access to this critical information.

I do agree that Social Security numbers should not be made accessible to everyone. They should not be freely available on the Internet. I also believe that such personal data should only be made available for those with a legitimate need for it. We are asking Congress to provide an exception from the limitation on the use of Social Security numbers for specific purposes as follows:

“to identify or locate missing or abducted persons, witnesses, criminals and fugitives, persons that are or may become parties to litigation, parents delinquent in child support payments, organ and bone marrow donors, pension fund beneficiaries, missing heirs and persons material to due diligence inquiries.”

A similar exception was provided during the Senate Commerce Committee’s consideration of S-1178.

The consequences of passing a ban on the sale of Social Security numbers without such exceptions would be serious. Both bills include an exception for law enforcement, as they should. But as you probably know, the bulk of investigations of fraud are conducted in the private sector. Police agencies simply do not have the necessary resources to do all the required investigations. Absent an exemption for private investigations, the law enforcement exemption would also raise serious due process questions since defense counsel would not have similar access to databases under the bill.

Should you have any questions, please contact me or my association’s Washington Representative Larry Sabbath at 703 426-1976.

Sincerely

Pre-Employment Screeneing / Background Checks

Nationwide Background Checks, Nationwide Criminal Checks, Nationwide Wants & Warrants, Criminal Background Checks, Pre-Employment Screening.... We have all seen websites advertising these services all over the Internet. The question is, how useful is the data?

Can the data that is readily available all over the Internet with results returned instantly be acceptable when running pre-employment screening / background checks? In other words, is stored data (information from a database) FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) compliant for employment background checks?

This exact scenario was asked by John J. Allan III of Dallas, Texas. This is some of the text from the FTC's response on this issue:

This is in response to your letter inquiring whether employment screening services that use "stored data public records" comply with Section 613(2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). You state that such services purchase public records from a "stored data records company" in bulk on magnetic tape or in CD-ROM format every 30, 60, or 90 days, and use them in screening employment applicants for their clients. Under these facts, the employment screening service is a consumer reporting agency ("CRA") under the FCRA. We conclude that a CRA does not comply with Section 613(2) of the FCRA when it furnishes consumer reports for employment purposes that include negative public record information from stored data, without first verifying whether the information is complete and up to date.

The key is that your report to the client must contain the information EXACTLY how it was listed from the data source (i.e., Courthouse, DMV,Registrar's Office, Employer's records, etc.) and within 24 hours of the date of your report. Therefore, Section 613(a)(2) makes using stored data from a database, if that database was updated from the Source more than a day ago, NON-compliant.

In other words, yes the data is useful for the general public and for research purposes, however, when conducting pre-employment screening you can not rely on database information. Your information must be accurate & validated within a 24 hour period of your report that pertains to the applicant.

You may read the full text of the FTC's response here.

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

God Bless America - 911

As I write this blog I cant help feeling emotional. I regret that our dictionaries and encyclopedia's all define a phrase that prior to September 11, 2001 was simply just another day in the beautiful USA.


From Wikipedia:

The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced "nine eleven") consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist suicide attacks by Islamic extremists on that date upon the United States of America.

That morning nineteen terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a trained pilot. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners (United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower (1 WTC and 2 WTC) resulting in the collapse of both buildings soon afterward and irreparable damage to nearby buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner (American Airlines Flight 77) into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft (United Airlines Flight 93) attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died as an immediate result of the attacks, and the death of at least one person from lung disease was ruled by a medical examiner to be a result of exposure to WTC dust. Another 24 people are missing and presumed dead. The victims were predominantly civilians.


God Bless,

Patrick L Baird

Website for Listing Non-Paying Clients

What to do when your client does not pay???

If you are in the private investigation business, or any other business for that matter, this question inevitably is a reality at some time or another.

I am a very trusting person, I believe in people. This philosophy has burned me countless times in my business career. I take it personally when I perform a service for my client and many times the service is requested and completed on a rush basis, however, when I invoice the client the payment is delayed (for various excuses) or simply not paid at all. Then I am in a position of having to stop productive work and start chasing my money.

I have tried to post the clients information on professional group's email lists, calling the people countless times etc. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a central place where all slow paying or no paying clients names could be listed for all to see!! Maybe a website that list deadbeats for each industry.

Well, recently I was made aware of at least one industry that understands this inherent problem and has decided to do something about it.

The repossession industry is notorious for slow pay and no pay clients, The Salt Lake Bureau has set-up a website to tackle this problem. Here is some information from their website:

The purpose of The Salt Lake Bureau is to report and organize in a user friendly online format, information regarding issues with outstanding, overdue and/or disputed lien holder invoices. ALL comments presented in this website are the responsibility of the repossession or collateral collection agency authoring those reports and are bound by the Salt Lake Bureau Disclaimer and Condition for Interactive Services found within. The Salt Lake Bureau does not edit, add, or delete 'any' commentary but rather presents all comments as received for the reader to draw their own conclusions.

I think The Salt Lake Bureau has a good concept. Personally, I would like to see a public page that lists the names of the deadbeats for all to see.

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

Understanding Email Headers & Email Tracing

EMail Tracing & Email Headers

Have you ever wanted to find someone's email address, but didn't know how? Or perhaps you have an email address already, and want to find out who own's it.

If your like me, you have probably tried to find a place online to do it for you, but found some very suspect web-sites that I just did not feel confident using. In addition some of them appeared to be very inexpensive (legitimate sources cost over $200 per email traced), so I had serious doubts that they would contain up to date information or any information at all.

While I normally leave email tracing to my properly trained investigators, I felt it would be beneficial to examine what a email header is and offer some valuable tools and links that further define the anatomy of an email trace.

Garbage IN - Garbage Out:

I would like to make a point before anyone decides to dive into this. The information you receive in return for hiring an investigator to research an email address is only as good as the information that was supplied to the email carrier when the subscriber set-up their account.

Typically, there is NO VALIDATION PROCESS to verify the identity of the person setting-up the email account as it pertains to the name and address they are listing. It is not uncommon for a person to use an alias or fake name & address when setting-up an email account, that is even more prominent with the FREE email accounts (i.e., Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, Hushmail, etc.).

Understanding an Email Header:

Email headers are the lines at the top of an email message that are used by servers on the Internet as they deliver the message. Your email program normally shows you only the standard To:, From:, Subject:, and Date: headers, but there are more. The most important header when you want to complain about spam is Received:, which tells you the route the message took when it was sent to you.

You can instruct most email programs to display the full headers of any message that you receive.

While viewing the message,

• In Netscape: Select: View->Headers->All
• In Outlook: Select: View->Options
• In Pine: Type H. (Requires the enable-full-header-cmd feature.)
• In WebMail: Click View Full Headers.

Once you have the header, you will be able to start tracing the origination of each email. The following links will educate and instruct you on how to decipher the email header. It gets a little technical so you have been warned. Enjoy....

1. Reading Email Headers
2. All About Email Headers
3. How to find the Full Headers in your Email Program
4. View, Copy and Paste Email Headers for Email Trace
5. How can I trace where email came from

Death of Call Records - Part 2

After posting my blog "Death of Call Records in Texas" I had the opportunity to read many well written, educated and professional responses from a number of my colleagues. I feel it is the best interest of this subject that I share some with you.

I preface my sharing of the comments from fellow private investigators (listed below) with this statement:

We can not save call records!! However, as an industry we can try and help! It is up to each and every one of us to be vigilant, involved and ultimately help ourselves, our associations and most importantly the private investigation industry, fight to keep the necessary tools we need to make a difference.

Here are some of the comments posted:

Rick Wrote:

I believe that call records have a place in our industry too. However, I also believe that they are a consumer privacy breach. This is why I am a proponent of having a system in place where the people in the professions that need them and have a legitimate immediate need to obtain them; could have access to them under some type of a permissible purpose clause.

There is a point that I would like to comment on. With all due respect, I think it is unfair to suggest that it would be appropriate to obtain these records without some type of authorization by saying "this only affects the people that have something to hide". That has long since been a recognized way of trying to "trick" someone into giving up one or some of their privacy privileges. It's kind of like asking someone to strip naked, and when they refuse to do so, then saying "Well why not, if you have nothing to hide?".

I think we are better off acknowledging that obtaining consumer call records by someone other than who these records belong to or who has an account that these records go to is in fact a breach of personal privacy, However, I believe the right approach to this issue is that in some cases there is a need to have consumer call records which is greater than and outweighs any consumer privacy concerns.

Bob wrote:

We already have legal access to them on a case by case basis where their relevancy and importance can be demonstrated. It's called a subpoena.

That's quite loose enough for me, thank you. If you have a legitimate need, open the case and get a subpoena. If not, mind your own business, not mine!

Sue wrote:

I do disagree with you on this one. The police and the municipalities do not need SDT's. Why should we for the same case for the same evidence? Why should we be forced to show our hand in advance robbing us of ANY opportunity for surprise or impeachment? Also, at least here in CA, a consumer notice has to be sent to the party prior to sending a subpoena and if they say NO, the court might side with them. Many hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the Supreme Court after the Appellate Court will send it back and grant the SDT.

Not only is this such an outrageous waste of money, it is also a totally unfair disadvantage to our side.

If you read most State's PUC laws you will see that LEO's (law enforcement officers) do not need subpoenas. Disclosure to them is permissible.

Excellent points from everyone. Maybe, we (private investigators) can collectively come-up with a generalized statement that can be used on our blogs, emails, websites, etc. that helps educate the uninformed of the serious and sensitive predicament we are all in. These links can direct people to a central website/URL that will inform, offer sample text for emails/letters and more importantly list direct links, addresses and fax numbers to the various government agencies that are investigating and/or making these laws.

The main issue I was trying to point out was the fact that we simply can not stand still and watch the tools in our arsenal be taken away from big brother, in doing so government officials (on all levels) are simply helping the criminals and deadbeats.

If the government continues this practice the industry hit the hardest will be the financial industry. We will witness the demise of skip tracing altogether. This industry will no longer have the tools to effectively contact, locate or even communicate with the very people that owe them money. What does that mean to 95% of the people that pay their bills, higher interest rates and less money in our pockets!!

Just a thought....

Patrick Baird

Stalking & CyberStalking

Like domestic violence, stalking is a crime of power and control. Stalking is conservatively defined as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that involves repeated (two or more occasions) visual or physical proximity, non consensual communication, or verbal, written, or implied threats, or a combination thereof, that would cause a reasonable person fear".

Stalking behaviors also may include persistent patterns of leaving or sending the victim unwanted items or presents that may range from seemingly romantic to bizarre, following or laying in wait for the victim, damaging or threatening to damage the victim's property, defaming the victim's character, or harassing the victim via the Internet by posting personal information or spreading rumors about the victim.

The overwhelming majority of victims are women (78 percent), and the majority of offenders (87 percent) are men. Nearly 60 percent of women and 30 percent of men are stalked by a current partner.

According to Tjaden and Thoennes (1998 Case), 8.1 percent of women and 2.2 percent of men report having been stalked during their lifetime. One percent of the women sampled and .4 percent of men had been stalked during the 12 months prior to the study.

Annually, approximately 1 million women and 370,000 men are stalked. Most victims (77 percent of women, 64 percent of men) reported that they knew their stalker. These figures exclude victims under the age of 18 and those who are homeless or do not have phones.

Stalking can be carried out in person or via electronic mechanisms (phone, fax, GPS, cameras, computer spyware, or the Internet).

Cyberstalking - the use of technology to stalk victims - shares some characteristics with real-life stalking. It involves the pursuit, harassment, or contact of others in an unsolicited fashion initially via the Internet and e-mail.

Cyberstalking can intensify in chat rooms where stalkers systematically flood their target's inbox with obscene, hateful, or threatening messages and images.

A cyberstalker may further assume the identity of his or her victim by posting information (fictitious or not) and soliciting responses from the cyber community. Cyberstalkers may use information acquired online to further intimidate, harass, and threaten their victim via courier mail, phone calls, and physically appearing at a residence or work place.

Although cyberstalking does not involve physical contact with a victim, it is still a serious crime. The increasing ubiquity of the Internet and the ease with which it allows others unusual access to personal information, have made this form of stalking ever more accessible.

Potential stalkers may find it easier to stalk via a remote device such as the Internet rather than to confront an actual person. Conduct that falls short of the legal definition of stalking may in fact be a precursor to stalking and must be taken seriously (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999).

Visit this link for more information on this topic and a variety of other important topics.

The Death of Call Records

The once mighty call records report that many private investigators, law enforcement officers and, as we found out last year, even our own President George Bush used to thwart criminal activities has officially ended in Texas.

The Texas law that prohibits the unauthorized distribution of call records was activated on September 1, 2007, approximately 8 months after the federal law that President Bush signed in January, 2007. This law, or a close variation, has passed in a number of states this year and I expect many of the remaining states to follow.

I personally posted the following on one of the PI Groups in 2006;

Anyone who is reading this knows that phone records are a vital part of our business. These records have NEVER been found to harm anyone or offend anyone who did not have something to hide? In fact we have helped law enforcement & government agencies (at no cost), insurance agencies, bail enforcement agents, financial institutions, collection agencies, other PI's, and many families;

• Find Missing Children
• Locate Run-a-ways
• Bail Jumpers
• Locate Murderers
• Find Rapists
• Locate People & Collateral
• Detect Insurance Fraud

I have been a proponent of this socially unpopular tool, and I have taken my share of criticism, however, I know this tool helped many and hurt few. The ones that were damaged apparently had something to hide.

I believe and respect the law. It is just sad that as a law abiding citizen and private investigator I am seeing the government crush many valuable tools we have to help stave off fraud (call records, pre-texting, social security number access, etc) while they unknowingly aid the criminals and the deadbeats by "protecting" our rights.

In closing; While we watch criminals get away, missing children stay missing, interest rates sky rocket because deadbeat accounts go unpaid and secured collateral go un-found, we can all thank our government officials for protecting us from ourselves.

Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS TO THE FTC

TONIGHT IS THE DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS TO THE FTC.

Comments filed electronically will be accepted until 11:59 PM Eastern tonight. Any comments filed before then will be considered by the FTC. You may send comments in either text or PDF files via their website (see below). Preserving Social Security Number access is critical to the success of our business. Please take a few minutes to send some comments.

Deadline for comments is September 5, 2007. Comments may be filed electronically at: https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-SSNPrivateSector - Comments should refer to “SSNs In The Private Sector - Comment, Project No. P075414” to facilitate the organization of comments.

Phone Spoofing on the Road to Becoming Unlawful

Is Phone Spoofing the next target in the government's laundry list of laws to "help" protect Americans from the evils of society?

"Phone spoofing" - There a bill that has already cleared the full House and the Senate Judiciary Committee would criminalize faking Caller ID if: (A) the phone number belongs to an actual person who did not provide prior consent.--OR --(B) you intend to commit fraud.

If enacted, the "Preventing Harassment Through Outbound Number Enforcement" bill, or PHONE Act, would carry penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of $250,000.

FBI surveillance: It's come a long way

By JOHN DUNBAR, Associated Press Writer

The FBI disclosed new details about its secretive technology for tracing telephone calls and recording conversations during criminal, terrorism and espionage investigations, custom-made tools it has developed quietly for a decade.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the government has come a long way since the days of alligator clips and reel-to-reel tape recorders when it comes to its surveillance techniques.

In hundreds of heavily censored pages, the FBI described in unprecedented detail a sophisticated surveillance system known as the Digital Collection System Network. It includes programs to record information about telephone calls — such as the number called and the duration of the call — made by surveillance targets and another program called Digital Storm to record conversations.

Many of the documents were marked "for official use only."

Some of the FBI files describe the security risks that outsiders might gain access to the bureau's eavesdropping tools. The FBI said part of its surveillance system is tightly guarded, physically against intruders and electronically against hackers.

Steve Bellovin, a security expert and computer science professor at Columbia University, describes the system as "basically a control terminal" for the agency's various surveillance taps.
He said the biggest threat would be not from hackers but from inside. "Can it be abused by rogue agents?" he asked.

In files describing the operation of the call-tracing system, known as the DCS-3000, the FBI acknowledged that rogue agents or spies represent the gravest threat.

"As with most information systems, the greatest threat to the DCS 3000 would come from the inside," the FBI said. "Since they have access to the system at various levels, users could damage, alter or erase data and destroy system hardware and software. They could also use the information gathered by it for profit by passing on the collected information or by alerting those being monitored."

"We go to great lengths to make sure the system is secure," said Anthony DiClemente, section chief of the data acquisition and intercept section at the FBI. Access is limited, and the system itself is kept "in a locked room," he said.

The FBI was forced by a federal judge to give the files to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group, which requested them under the Freedom of Information Act more than one year ago.

Is it Legal for Police to Search a Hotel Room?

Police do not have this authority unless they have specific firsthand "knowledge" that a crime had been committed such as a gunshot or scream coming from the motel room.

From a legal stand point there is no difference between entering your home, apartment or rented motel room. All rules and laws apply as does the expectation that you would be free from unreasonable search and seizure of your residence. The fact that your "residence" is a motel room makes no difference in the eyes of the law. A search warrant would be needed to forcibly enter the motel/hotel room.

Here is the real world application of this conundrum:

Many motels/hotels will cooperate with law enforcement; however, motel management is not obligated to do so unless there is a warrant or court order involved. Police cannot legally ask motel management to get the bolt cutters to cut the inner security lock to the room; however, I have seen hotel managers do this very thing to allow police access to a room. The problem is that the motel/hotel now opens themselves up to legal liability from the person who is apprehended.

An experienced police officer will generally try to gain entry into a motel room by knocking on the door (with the authoritative voice saying"Police! Open up!). Most inexperienced individuals will hear that it is the police and simply comply because they think they have to. Once the door has been opened the police can then legally gain entry. Anything found in the room would then be admissible evidence. Any police officer that enters a motel room without the consent of the resident runs a huge risk of having any evidence found in the room being thrown out of court due to an unlawful search if there is no search warrant.

With many motel rooms now controlled by key-card access, management can now lock people out if they overstay or do not pay their bill. Even with the implementation of this technology, if the person stays in the room beyond their scheduled stay management cannot legally throw them out (interesting, huh?). In these cases there are usually several individuals in the room and someone always stays in the room to let the others back in when they return. Motels/hotels have to go through the same process of evicting someone as you would with an apartment...3 Day Pay or Quit and all the other stuff. Since most people do not know this they leave the room and are locked out and cannot get back in. For those who know how the system works they can actually stay in the room for weeks if not months until legally evicted.

In a situation where the person may be confused and voluntarily open the door for the police, the police can argue that they were invited into the room. Having been "invited"they are free to search the room for drugs or any other illegal activity.

If you had a situation where there was a warrant for arrest, if the person looked out the window and was recognized as the perpetrator by LEO (law enforcement officers) they could legally break the door down since there is a warrant for their arrest. If local LEO conducts a DMV check of plates in the parking lot and sees a warrant for a known felon, it could be argued that they had a legal right to get the motel registration information from motel management to apprehend the perpetrator.

Laws differ for each State on this law, please consult an attorney in your state if you have further questions.

Here are some interesting links to articles pertaining to this issue:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4441/is_200411/ai_n16056317
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070630230249AAhUzwu

Non Obvious Relationship Awareness (aka NORA)

NORA is a program that was created to help stave off theft in Casino's by recognizing the "degree of separation" between players and dealers.

"Non-obvious relationship awareness" (NORA) software probes databases in any language, searching for obscure matches between relevant information. Anonymized data (ANNA) software uses the same technology to investigate data that has been encrypted.

This patented technology allows users to discern obvious and so-called "non-obvious" relationships between data sets in multiple databases. This view can help identify connections that can span more than 30 degrees of separation.

One degree of separation would be two people who work at the same casino who also listed the same address on their resumes. The second degree might be finding out that a third-party vendor providing cards to the casino attended the same high school as one of those two employees. The third degree might be discovering that all three of these individuals maintain checking accounts at the same bank. In the case of Atta, NORA would have identified that he at one point shared a home address with two other 9/11 terrorists, Khalid Al-Midhar and Salem Alhazmi.

The software instantly triggers a "trip wire" that flags high-risk individuals—from casino cheats to known terrorists—and then compares what it knows about them with information in airline-reservation, passport and other databases.

This software was bought by IBM and is currently being used by the Intelligence and LEO's (law enforcement officers) to fight the war on terror.

Here are a couple links for more information:

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/04/non_obvious_rel.html
http://idmashup.org/schedule/conferencesession.2006-0613.8355598228/conferencefile.2006-06-17.0445782133

PI's are Not the Problem; Criminals are the Problem!

Please take the time to send a message like the one below to the FTC, all legislator's and congress. This FTC Comment Letter due by Sept 5th!!! Time is running out please help!

Letter can read as follows:

I urge the FTC Commission to give special weight, emphasis added, on the negative impact restricting/prohibiting a PI's use of the SSN for legitimate purposes.

PIs are not the problem; criminals are the problem!

Criminals are abusing the system and exploiting opportunities to get rich off the backs of unsuspecting victims, Joe and Joan Q Public, through unscrupulous means such as identity theft and fraud. However, prohibiting/restricting a PI's use and reliance on SSN driven databases will have an [unintended] adverse impact on the very people you are trying to protect! Ironic as it may seem, congress's proposal to make SSNs unusable for any purpose in the private sector, will have a devastating effect on the private sector's ability to accurately and correctly identify the very persons that should be held to answer for their illegal and malicious actions! For example, employers deciding to hire, witnesses needed to be located for trial, the need to locate deadbeats/judgment debtors for collection, reuniting missing persons with their loved ones, locating unclaimed property for families and the elderly, identify insurance fraudsters and fraud ring trends, locating deadbeat parents, etc. Surely, any reasonable and logical person can see that taking away a necessary tool from the private sector will only undermine the accuracy and effectiveness of the private sector's right to perform due diligence.

We are certain that any restrictions or prohibitions specifically targeting PIs from using SSNs in their investigations, will do more harm/damage to the same people you are trying to protect from privacy violations. The prohibition will not stop or stem identity theft, but restricting a PI's use of the SSN tool will surely make it easier for charlatans, deadbeats, sham artists, fraudsters, and criminals to commit their crimes on innocent victims and go undetected.

You have to recognize the significance PIs, law enforcement, and countless other professions rely upon the SSN as the "primary identifier" for Joe Q Public! "Names and dates of birth" are no longer "unique" to one person! Social Security Numbers, however, are unique to one person. In the case of financial malfeasance, identity theft, fraud, unjust enrichment, payroll fraud, taxpayer fraud, loan fraud, to name a few, PIs rely on the traceable tracks that SSN driven databases leave by the culprits. PIs do not have the luxury of running fingerprints or DNA samples on suspected fraudsters, etc. We have to piece together the tracks of the perpetrators through various means, many of which are social security number driven searches. Names are so common these days and so many criminals perpetrating crimes use aliases names etc. that PIs have to have access to databases where we can use SSNs, [the unique primary identifier] to have even a remote chance to collar the bad guy.

Unfortunately, anyone with a creative mind and an IQ of 50 can randomly align nine digits in an acceptable Social Security number format and presto they have a "new Social Security Number!"

The good news: The digit string in an SSN makes for a very effective logic search query in most, if not all, database search engines. With the Social Security Number of a victim or a perpetrator our changes of tracking down the culprit increases exponentially! On the other hand, if the FTC prohibits our use and access to social security number driven searchable databases, criminals will have the advantage not PIs or law enforcement. Private Investigators use the Social Security Number in most, if not all, their investigations in some way to aid us in accomplishing the requested tasks.

Whether we like it or not, the SSN is the private sector's most accurate means to identify legitimate citizens from the impostors committing the many types of crimes against the innocent.

The necessity of our use of the SSN has reached a critical mass. The SSN has become the most unique non-bio identifier of all time. The SSN's use as an identifier has gone beyond return. With so many people with the "same/similar names" and, in some cases, people with the "same name and date of birth", the SSN is the only intangible non-bio identifier that the private sector can rely upon to aid us tracking a person's whereabouts, the assets of a judgment debtor, the employment and/or identity of a skip, to name just a few examples of the many types of investigations PI's conduct for consumers, businesses, large companies, the indigent, and the wrongfully accused.

Unless PI's are given alternative options to replace the SSN identifier as a tool from our toolbox, our effectiveness will suffer grievous circumstances, which will subsequently trickle down to the consumer, the taxpayer and alas the economy as a whole..

The SSN is to PI's, what DNA and FPC Henry (fingerprints) are to law enforcement. PI's nationwide stand united against identity thieves and persons who use others' identities to commit malfeasance. PI's nationwide are also concerned about personal privacy; however, the answer is not in the SSN. The answer is in the punishment of the perpetrators who use SSN's to conduct their illegal activities.

I urge you to consider this argument in favor of an exemption allowing PI's access to use SSN's in our investigations. Anything short of an unbridled exemption would be contrary to logic, practical application, and a blow to commonsense.