Regarding the fingerprint background checks - there is an enormous business opportunity here for someone willing to navigate a heavily regulated government market.

In California, criminal records are stored at the state level in a biometric database, based on fingerprints. If you wanted to get your state-level criminal record, you'd have to get your fingers scanned at by a "LiveScan" operator. LiveScan devices are electronic fingerprint scanners (and associated software) that go through a certification process before they can be used to submit valid fingerprints to the state DOJ. The devices and software must meet standards set by the FBI and the DOJ. LiveScan software must be go to the DOJ through regulated data exchanges--a very limited number of privately run services that electronically relay the fingerprint data to the DOJ (not sure, but I think it's either SFTP or an XML-based API over a VPN). Anyone who wants to hook up LiveScan devices must get registered as an approved vendor, and anyone who wants take fingerprints with those devices must go through a fingerprint certification process.

In short, fingerprint background check requests in CA go through a set of regulated private service vendors. If you pull your own state criminal record in CA, you're going to pay $15-50 to the LiveScan vendor + $25 to the DOJ for the lookup fee, and then you'll wait ~1 week to get a paper copy of your record in the mail.

Maybe some entrepreneur could create an umbrella company, become an approved vendor and data exchange, and then sell small affordable FBI-approved fingerprint scanners that can plug into mobile phones, and sign up people to be certified fingerprint rollers, and then let contractors collect fingerprints anywhere and get paid for it, as well as sell better devices to law enforcement agencies.

I'm not sure how big the market is, but right now there are ~1 million+ people in CA eligible to reduce their old low-level felonies to misdemeanors under Prop 47 until November 2017, and getting these fingerprint background checks is often necessary to that process (and is one of the biggest barriers).

1 out of 4 adults in the US has a criminal record. And pulling these state-level records is routine for getting professional licenses, certain government jobs, and jobs involving vulnerable populations.

How are these fingerprint records different from private background checks?

Most private background check companies pull data from a variety of sources, such as county-level court records, DMV records, and FBI. By law, these companies are not allowed to share certain types of information (like certain types of convictions over 7 years old, etc.) Keep in mind that false names and aliases are common, and county clerks can't pull records based on fingerprints.

The state biometric record is built from county-level records submitted by law enforcement and courts. It includes every arrest, prosecution, hearing, sentencing, and all the registries (for sex offenses or controlled substances). It includes both "strong links" (biometric matches, regardless of given name) and "weak links" (non-biometric matches based on multiple identity matches, such as given name, DOB, ssn). Fingerprints for biometric matching are typically taken by law enforcement and corrections departments during booking. Non-biometric records are often submitted by courts, for tracking convictions and sentencing.

The state record is only allowed to be accessed by particular types of "authorized agencies" and only for particular purposes, and they are only allowed to see certain kinds of records. Telling Uber & Lyft to put their drivers through fingerprint background checks might be analogous to saying that the drivers will be responsible for serving people who may be easily victimized and therefore (like other professional licensing requirements) Uber/Lyft's contractors should go through an authorized licensing agency and do a biometric lookup of any contact they may have had with law enforcement.

I imagine that forcing all the drivers to go through the LiveScan service + wait time would add a huge cost and time burden for signing up new drivers that is currently difficult or impossible to automate (unlike checkr, which has an API).

FWIW here are some links for more info:
- Checkr's county court fees listing: https://checkr.com/pricing/additional-pricing-information/
- CA DOJ Request for LiveScan service: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/forms/BCII_8016.pdf
- NIST Fingerprint testing standards http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/fingerprint/NIST%20Finge...
- FBI Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification https://www2.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/iafis/efts_70.pdf
- DCJS NY RFP for LiveScan services (yay procurement! /s) http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/rfp/livescan/livescanrfp_f...
- CA DOJ Become a LiveScan Operator http://oag.ca.gov/fingerprints/operators