Dear A-Letter Reader:
If you've ever served in the military, attended public schools, purchased real estate, obtained a business or professional license, been involved in a lawsuit, or were merely born in the USA, a "public record" exists of those events.
Until about 20 years ago, all that meant was that somewhere in a musty basement in a county courthouse, in a dust covered volume, a record existed of whatever interaction you had with a particular government authority.
If someone wanted to know, for instance, if you owned property in West Virginia, he could literally have to visit every county courthouse in the state (all 55 of them) to check the property records there. And he might have discovered that the property records weren't even indexed by name, but by the address of the property. To make matters even more difficult, the address might not be listed as "19 E. Virginia St., Charleston, West Virginia," but as a "plat number." If you didn't know the "plat number," you might not be able to find out who owned the building at 19 E. Virginia St., or anywhere else, for that matter.
My, how things have changed! Today, you don't need to blow the dust off of a moldy book to discover who owns a particular property, has a business license or has been sued. You merely need to visit one of hundreds of Internet web sites that advertise their expertise in searching public records.
Want to know more about me, or any of 300 million other US persons? Just visit one of these web sites, where you can search public records by name, date of birth, Social Security number, case number, etc.
If you don't know where the person you're investigating actually owns real estate, has a business license or has a bank account, that's no problem. These online services will search hundreds of millions of public records, instantaneously, and tell you. Now that's convenience!
Want to know details of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's mortgage? It's online. What about the social security numbers for Florida Governor Jeb Bush and CIA Director Porter J. Goss? Just point and click.
As a journalist and consultant, I've personally benefited from being able to retrieve public records from the Internet at the click of the mouse. But with this ability comes a host of problems:
* Identity theft: If someone knows your name, date of birth and Social Security number, they have enough information to steal your identity. And that information is freely available over the Internet. Example: a 2004 study by the US General Accounting Office found that public records in 41 states and the District of Columbia, many of them available online, contain SSNs.
* Stalking: Online records are a stalker's paradise. Home addresses for doctors, nurses, lawyers, architects, real estate brokers and other professionals in many states are also held in public records. If someone has a grudge against you, and finds your home address in an online public record, it's a simple matter to use a service such as Yahoo! Maps to obtain driving instructions on how to get there from any location in the US.
* Frivolous lawsuits: Divorce decrees and many other types of legal documents that can be retrieved online often obtain real estate values, mortgage information, bank account numbers and other financial data. This information is invaluable to investigators to determine if you're "worth suing." In many cases, an investigator will call up your bank or broker, pretend to be "you" and ask for details about the account. Such "pretexting" or posing as the investigative target, is now illegal, but the practice remains widespread.
* Inability to obtain employment, housing or insurance. It's now possible for employers, property owners and insurance companies to conduct online background checks. Have you ever been arrested? If so, this information is probably available online and easily retrieved by a prospective employer. Have you made a claim under your homeowner's insurance coverage? This information goes into an online database and may make it difficult or impossible for you to ever obtain homeowner's insurance again.
What can you do to fight back? Here are a few suggestions:
* Contact banks and brokers with which you do business and ask them not to answer inquiries about your account without a code word or phrase that you designate. Make sure the word or phrase wouldn't be easy for an impostor to guess, such as your birthday or the last four digits of your SSN.
* If you are involved in litigation, ask that the records be sealed. If that's not possible, you may have the right to request that personal information such as your SSN, bank account numbers, etc. be placed in a confidential addendum that can't be retrieved without legal authorization.
* If your business or occupation requires that you obtain a license, don't list your residential address or SSN on the application. List a post office box or mail receiving service address instead. And instead of the SSN, ask if you can provide a driver's license number or have a random identifying number assigned.
* Consider acquiring real estate in the name of a business entity, rather than your own name. This strategy may have tax implications, so be sure to check with your tax advisor before you do it. In some states, you can use a device called a "land trust" to cloak your ownership of real estate, yet preserve tax benefits.
Finally.
* Move "nest egg" assets outside the US into offshore jurisdictions that are serious about preserving privacy. The egregious violations of privacy we accept in the US for the sake of "convenience" simply aren't tolerated in countries like Switzerland, Panama and many other offshore centers.
Mark Nestmann, Phoenix, ArizonaThe Nestmann Group, Web site: http://www.nestmann.com E-mail: assetpro@nestmann.com
PS: So far this year, 56.3 million Americans have had their identities exposed by security breaches by companies and public agencies, according to the ID Theft Resource Center. Not to mention about 1.8 million who were sued, or the 30,000 who became subject to secret investigations under laws like the PATRIOT Act. Big Business and Big Brother want to keep you and your wealth in plain sight, to be profitably tracked and easily seized. However, you can still legally create international 'lifeboats' of wealth and privacy that are practically invulnerable to snooping or confiscation. To learn more, click here:
LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/190SLIFE/W190F403 .
By Mark Nestmann, editor of The Sovereign Individual, the Sovereign Society's "Members Only" monthly newsletter, author of many books on privacy rights and tax planning. He heads the Nestmann Group.