In this day and age, computers are everywhere. Whether we’re talking about the laptop you use at home, the tablet you read on, or the phone you use constantly, everything is recorded on a computer. Everything you do in life leaves a paper trail, even when you use a cash machine, or you make one phone call – it can be traced.
Does this worry you?
For many people, the idea of anyone checking into their whereabouts and personal information is difficult to swallow, but it isn’t the case that simply anyone can be privy to this information. If you pay for a public records search, the information you are open to receiving isn’t anything particularly sensitive, and it isn’t going to give access to your innermost secrets or whereabouts. What it will do however is give someone information about the fact you are present, you are in the country, your age, your locality etc.
Some people are still very uncomfortable with this idea, but what are the advantages?
For starters, if you were to use such a search yourself, and you were trying to get in touch with a relative who fell off the radar years ago, this information could be enough to put you both back in contact. From there, huge wounds could be mended.
What is Included in a Records Search?
Basically, a search will unearth your major life events; it won’t compromise your privacy. So, we’re talking about your date of birth, your current age, date of marriage, date of death (hopefully not!), date of divorce, current marital status, and in some cases any home ownership details. Your address will be shown, and this is perhaps the part which most people aren’t that comfortable with.
Are these details safe? Basically, a public records search is not going to bring up anything confidential or sensitive, but it is going to bring up information, which is widely available in the public domain. Anyone can find out your address by digging a little deeper, and anyone can find your telephone number if it is listed in the public directory. There is nothing in there, which would cause offence or harm to you, so in terms of whether these searches are safe, they are as safe as they can be.
If you are worried about your privacy, basically, you can be reassured that such searches aren’t going to leave you with information open to everyone, which you don’t want anyone to know. Nobody can find out where your bank account is held, nobody can find out if you have a huge amount of credit card debt, and the only information that could be withdrawn from such a search is if you have been made bankrupt. Again, this information is deemed public for a certain amount of time.
Nobody can find out where you work, your office extension number, and nobody can find out what your blood type is, or whether you have any communicable diseases. We are talking contact details and major life events, so hopefully this will have gone some way to reassuring you that privacy isn’t compromised by a search of this kind.
Obviously, if someone reaches out to you, and you don’t hold an interest in contacting them, you simply don’t answer them – it’s that easy.
