public records

The author has been receiving repeated calls from telemarketers regarding selling their house at an address in Kansas City, despite never having lived there. These callers claim they obtained the number through 'public records' and identify themselves as 'independent investors,' leading the author to question the legality of data acquisition methods.

The LAPD has stopped making many public records available online, according to a UCLA professor who noted that records began disappearing from a Los Angeles city website in April. The professor described the department as a 'black hole of information' due to the lack of accessible data.

The Newsom administration delayed for 24 days before deciding whether to release a multi-million-dollar contract with Baby2Baby, a nonprofit associated with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Lawmakers are considering extending delays for public records requests.

California lawmaker Blanca Pacheco revised her bill to amend public records rules after facing opposition, removing high fees and court-based barriers for commercial requests. The current version of Assembly Bill 1821 extends response times for agencies but no longer includes provisions for increased costs or judicial reviews of request intent.

A bill supported by Oakland City Council could weaken state transparency laws by allowing governments more time to respond to public records requests. The draft bill has raised concerns about potential impacts on public access to information.

The article explains how scammers exploit data broker sites like Spokeo and Whitepages to build detailed profiles on individuals, using publicly available personal information such as addresses, family details, and financial data to target victims with scams. These profiles enable criminals to craft personalized, convincing scams by cross-referencing multiple data sources and public records.

Scammers use publicly available personal data from sources like public records, voter registrations, and commercial databases to target individuals, bypassing the need for hacking. A 2024 case in Montreal showed how scammers used spreadsheets with victim details to execute $21 million in fraud against elderly Americans.