The privacy implications are enormous, and we'll show you a few steps you can take to protect yourself from unwanted prying eyes. Most of the sources of information we describe are U.S. based. In a future feature, we'll show you where to find personal information for people in other parts of the world. A great starting point for searching for public records is Nora Paul's overview of People Finders and Public Records Databases . Paul describes a variety of different sources of information, shows you how to get access, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these sources.
Governments keep all kinds of records about people.
Many of these records have been placed online by the agencies responsible for collecting and maintaining the information. As yet, there aren't any centralized indexes or directories for these agencies, so it's best to try to locate a specific agency directly and search its offerings. Most major search engines will find appropriate links for you. Court records, including civil and criminal cases, bankruptcy filings, and so forth, are also increasingly available online. In The United States Federal Courts is an excellent resource for finding federal court records.