| Ever wanted to play detective? | | | | now possible to trace your roots and discover |
| There's an enormous amount of information | | | | your family origins faster than ever before. What |
| available on the Web to anyone who knows | | | | would normally have taken years can now be |
| where to look for it. And it's all public information, | | | | achieved in hours. And when combined with email, |
| contained in massive databases relating to as | | | | instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook and so on, |
| many as 200 million US residents. | | | | there's literally nothing you can't find out if you're |
| The data includes public records, court records, | | | | willing to put in the time and the effort. |
| phone numbers and email addresses. There are | | | | One of the more interesting applications of this |
| statistics for over 90% of the US population. But | | | | data concerns the information held online about |
| what good are any of these statistics to the | | | | you. For instance, some people have discovered |
| average person? | | | | the reason why they keep getting refused on |
| Apart from the obvious, such as finding phone | | | | credit applications. It's nothing to do with bad |
| numbers or email addresses, these sources of | | | | credit or an unpaid loan; it's simply down to the |
| information will enable you to:o find a long lost | | | | fact that there's a mistake on their public file that |
| friend or lovero check up on a suspicious | | | | needs to be rectified. Once you know there's a |
| neighboro research a company or business | | | | mistake, you can get in touch with the |
| partnero get background info on a potential renter | | | | appropriate authorities and get it put right. |
| leasero find out what's on your record | | | | And, of course, you might even want to take the |
| It's no surprise, then, that this information is also | | | | next step and start your own private |
| used by private investigators. So if you fancy | | | | investigation company. If research turns you on, |
| yourself as a bit of a Sherlock, everything you | | | | everything you need to perform serious detective |
| need is there online. In many cases the | | | | work is already online, including unlisted phone |
| information has been collected and organized on | | | | numbers and criminal records. That's where |
| specific sites which you can access by paying a | | | | thousands of private investigators and detectives |
| small one-off fee and becoming a member. | | | | all over the world get their information from. But |
| Sites such as this are great resources for | | | | you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to be able |
| genealogical work, too. Thanks to the Internet, it's | | | | do it. |