b'SMART OPERATIONSAnother Step to Protect Your PrivacyThe public has a right to know what is going on behind closed doors withits elected officials and government agencies, but it is the access to publicinformation regarding specific peopleroutinely exploited by profit-seekers Peter who sell compiled data to marketers and others who have no businessPellandaccessing your personal informationthat is troublesome.You might be surprised to learn how keters and others who have no busi- turns,schooltranscripts,library vacy Act (CCPA) protects the rights ofmuch of your personal information is ness accessing your personal informa- records, health records and juvenile California residents regarding their per-readilyavailableonline,easilyac- tionthat is troublesome. court records. sonal information, including the right tocessedbyjustaboutanybodyand If you do a search on Google for easily request access to or deletion ofbeing packaged and sold at a profit by yourname,cityandstate,youare How Public Recordstheir personal information, as well as theover 100 data brokers, so-called public likely to be shocked to see how much Providers Operate right to demand that businesses stoprecord providers. There are over a bil- personalinformation(someofit Ifyougotooneofthesepublic sellingthatpersonalinformation.lion searchable public records today, highly inaccurate) is available with just recordsproviderswebsites,youwill Whether you live in California or else-and both federal and state legislation oneclick,wherepublicrecordsare first be asked enter the first and last where, you basically need to go to thepassed over the last 50 years ensures consolidatedwithinformationthat name of the person for whom you are website of each public records providerthe publics right to access. It all started you may have voluntarily provided on searching, along with his or her city and and click on the link (usually at the bot-with the Freedom of Information Act, platformssuchasFacebook and state. You will then be presented with a tom of the page) that says, Do Not Sellpassed in 1967, guaranteeing that any- LinkedIn. You will probably find your list of results that likely include that per- My Personal Information. You will thenone can submit a public records re- fullnameandaddress,formerad- son, along with links for more informa- be directed through a multi-step processquest to any federal agency and that dresses,familymembers(including tion or a full report. You will then wait that will include email or text authenti-agency (with few exceptions) is man- births,deaths,marriagesanddi- several minutes for the report to be al- cation in order to be removed from thatdated to provide the information in a vorces),phonenumbers,emailad- legedly generated, teasing you with the one sellers database. (If you live in Cali-timely manner. This federal legislation dresses,yearofbirth,estimated categories of information that are being fornia, there will be a secondary link thatwasfollowedbysimilarsunshine annual income and net worth, real es- compiled, and presenting you with one will streamline the process.) Of course,laws that were passed in all 50 states, tateandpropertyrecords,property or more payment or subscription op- there are businesses that are willing toprovidingaccesstostateandlocal taxes, professional licenses, voter reg- tions. If you are like me, you realize that capitalize on anything, and there arepublic records.istrations,campaigncontributions, public information must remain acces- companies online that will do the workThe public has a right to know what court records, arrest records, prison sible, but you would like to see your per- for you for a substantial fee. Two of thoseis going on behind closed doors with records,sexoffenderregistrations, sonalinformationremovedfrom arecompaniescalledDeleteMe its elected officials and government bankruptcy records, educational level, websites that are packaging that infor- www.joindeleteme.com/ and OneRepagencies, but it is the access to public general credit status, liens and corpo- mation for profit and selling it to any-www.onerep.com/ that will provideinformation regarding specific people rationandLLCrecords.Isthat body willing to pay their fee. that service for one person for one year routinely exploited by profit-seek- enough? About the only records that If you live in California, you are in luck at prices of $129 or $99 respectively. ers who sell compiled data to mar- are generally off-limits are your tax re- because the California Consumer Pri- Smart Operationscontinued on page 368 September 2021 Woodalls Campground Magazine'