TABLE OF CONTENTS From the mid-1990s onward, new phenomena arose. With the advent of the global Internet and the increasing availability of online databases to provide useful information, a new class of freelance information providers came into being. A cross between the classic shady gumshoe of mythic detective tales and the online reference librarians, these people offered to get desired information, for a fee. In some cases, they used entirely ethical means derived from their understanding of online research techniques and knowing which databases to go to for the kinds of data desired by their customers. In other cases, they also have offered to provide other types of information, some of which are prohibited by federal or state laws.
Suddenly the web was full of sites that offered anyone access to all manner of highly confidential information about specific persons or organizations. Such information would be of great benefit to private investigators working on behalf of legitimate clients such as abandoned spouses seeking child support payments, merchants defrauded by debtors who skipped out on debts and others. However, potential stalkers and other unstable persons could also abuse the information by tracking down those with whom they had a real or imaginary grudge. In many cases, all a prospective customer needed to do was to provide a credit card or money order. The information brokers claimed to be able to provide information such as the home telephone call records of a...
