Originally published July 26 2005
Private investigators feeling the effect of identity theft restrictions
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Government- and industry-sponsored crackdowns on commercial information databases makes it a lot harder for a person to use the systems to steal identities, but The Boston Globe reports the initiatives also make it a lot harder for private investigators to do their jobs, and many worry the problem will get worse.
These can be used to help track down missing persons or locate witnesses to a crime.
But investigators say that in the aftermath of recent identity theft scandals, database companies are cracking down in ways that make it harder for them to do their work.
''It's like throwing the baby out with the bath water," said Bruce Hulme, chairman of the legislative committee of the National Council of Investigation and Security Services in Baltimore.
The group is lobbying Congress to prevent passage of a bill introduced in April by Representative Clay Shaw of Florida, a Republican, which would tighten restrictions on the sale of Social Security numbers.
Hulme said that many of his members rely on Social Security numbers, and that without full access to them, they'll lose their ability to crack cases.
Investigators are also worried about a similar bill introduced last month by Republican US Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
No action has been taken on the Specter-Leahy bill.
But Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for Shaw, said his legislation had been substantially modified from the version first introduced last year, and will now place fewer restrictions on private detectives.
For example, the bill would allow the US attorney general to issue regulations granting the investigators access to Social Security numbers.
But Hulme and others want a specific ''carve-out" in the language of the bill, allowing database companies to sell detailed personal information to licensed private investigators.
Firms like LexisNexis and ChoicePoint Inc. hold detailed files on millions of Americans, which they sell to businesses, government agencies, journalists and private investigators.
In February, ChoicePoint admitted that criminals posing as legitimate business people had purchased files on about 140,000 people, some of whom were later defrauded.
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