the single most important vehicle for ensuring peoples freedom to come along since, I don't know.....the Greeks invented democracy or the Romans a representative government. It allows a free exchange of ideas that even the most oppressive of governments have a hard time censuring. It is a tool for learning unlike anything the world has ever seen...vast amounts of knowledge available at the fingertips of anyone who cares to look for it.
Unfortunately, it also has a high potential for abuse....for spreading disinformation, as a vehicle for theft, as a slander rag. The internet has a long memory that is difficult, if not impossible, to erase. Many young people today place their entire lives on the internet for the world to see, never thinking what a future employer or spouse may think of what they find.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the internet's memory is malleable by those who may or may not have your best interests in mind or through simple error. Garbage in, garbage out-so its said.
I recently heard of a new money making trend on the internet...companies compile lists of public records such as arrests, marriages, divorces, and bankruptcies-place them in a searchable database, then charge you for their removal. They tout themselves as providers of a service in the public interest, allowing people to search for potential threats...yet their true aim is to extort money out of those who don't wish to have their mugshots spread across several sites. What these sites fail to mention is that this information is already available, for free, through state and local agencies with far more factual accuracy.
Case in point...in 2004 I was arrested for domestic abuse. My wife and I were going through a divorce at the time, and had gotten into an argument over possession of a book. I know...kinda silly, fighting over a book...but it was a rather nice old history book from the 1800's. Wasn't worth very much, but still...it looked nice in the collection. She wanted to take it with her, I wanted to keep it. I don't remember who grabbed it first, but lets just say for the sake of argument it was her. I didn't want her to take it, so I grabbed it also. We played tug of war with it for a bit, which I ended up winning. In the process, I pulled hard enough that she fell into me. I never laid a hand on her, mind you. My hands were on the book, and our only contact was when she was pulled into me. I don't think I even left my seat. Well....she started screaming bloody murder. Her new boyfriend, who was standing outside at the time helping move stuff out of our house, comes running in to see what was going on, and she starts claiming abuse. She then calls the cops and files a sworn complaint. I, being naïve to the ways of domestic abuse laws in Florida at the time, was perfectly open and honest with the officer who arrived, who tended to agree with me that the complaint was bullshit....and was then read my Miranda rights. Since I didn't see where any abuse had occurred, and having been forthright with the officer when he arrived, I didn't even begin to suspect that I'd be arrested. Little did I know at the time that in the state of Florida, any time a sworn complaint is filed for domestic abuse is filed, the party against whom the complaint is filed is spending the night in jail...no questions asked. All charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence, because, well, SURPRISE.....no abuse had actually occurred.
Fast forward to 2013, when I hear of this public record scam. I decide, since this arrest for nothing has come back to haunt me before, to search for myself and see what came up. To my great surprise, not only did I find myself (which I sort of expected), I found that they had most of the information wrong...at least the stuff you don't have to pay to see. All of my associates were correct...they had my mother and father, who are both dead, listed...as well as my ex-wife and a family friend. What they had wrong, however, was a little disturbing....aliases I've never used, places I've never lived....they even had my age wrong. All of that can only lead to a couple different conclusions - one, that they have my information grievously incorrect, or B, that all of my associates were somehow mistakenly connected to someone else. There are quite a few people in Florida with my name...it could happen. Unfortunately, I can't find out how they screwed up my life without paying $30 for a subscription to their site. I think they might just get an earful from me before too long.
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