Comments on: Hidden Skeleton in Your Closet? Think Again.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:37:38 +0000

Criminalsearches.com database is not up to date and therefore they are guilty of libel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe this site has not been shut down!! My record has been sealed, meaning it cannot be viewed by the public, well there it is on criminalsearches.com. I have asked for this to be removed, but it is still there. This is libel!!!!!!!

I also know of people with a criminal record where nothing shows up!

Horrible website that is inaccurate!!!

By: Yuan Ding

Yuan Ding — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:13:03 +0000

Interesting post, Brittany Do you happen to know if there is a site for Canadians? The current search engine is classified by states, but not provinces…
Apparently the town of Hamilton has its own version but what I found interesting is this quote that appeared on their website:

Criminal Records Search is not intended for individuals seeking a volunteer and/or employment position with children or vulnerable persons.
http://www.hamiltonpolice.on.ca/HPS/Services/Records/CriminalRecordsSearch.htm

Is this an attempt to give offenders a fresh start? After all what they did is in the past and life is only so long to live in the shadow of regrets. That being said, I personally would not feel comfortable mowing the law for an elderly neighbour only to find out later that he was convicted for pedophilia through this website.

Nevertheless, technology (electronic records in this case) is skating on thin ice. That grey zone between violating an individual’s privacy and disclosing public information is getting murkier by the minute. With the help of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and sites like this one, we find ourselves judging others before we even get a chance to meet them in person. What happened to the gool ol’ days where trust was generally strong in society and judgements were made AFTER getting to know the person?

By: RaiulBaztepo

RaiulBaztepo — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:08:57 +0000

Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo

By: Brittany Creamer

Brittany Creamer — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:34:15 +0000

It would be nice if there was a similar site that listed all of a person’s good contributions to society-such as an aggregated list of all of their charitable contributions, juries served on, etc. How else will an employer know if your good outweighs your bad?

My 8 a.m. Media Law class is a little fuzzy so I could be wrong, but I am not sure if CrimeSearches could be sued since it only reports data the government publishes, so I think this site has some protection. Time will tell.

By: ~ender

~ender — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:10:09 +0000

You can also have records expunged or corrected.

The question is, are these guys going to update their databases? If they do not, then they’re liable for libel and/or defamation. But online libel has some stringent limits, so after expunging, I would contact them to make sure they’re aware of the changes, and put them on warning.

Of course, the libel laws are changing. First published stuff gets something like a 1 year limit for you to challenge, but one should be able to argue that being available on the internet is continous publication… but we’ll have to see how the courts rule.

Their nice litle website might start having some issues when they’ve got to defend themselves in every court of law in the world. In the world? Yeah, go read about some of that fun stuff in which publishers in Russia are being sued by people in America in UK courts (because those courts have the best laws for libel and slander). Crazeee.

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:01:05 +0000

I suppose you would have to look at whether there is “plausible deniability.” If you can convince people that “that person” really isn’t you, then you should be fine. Otherwise, I suppose you could wear a disguise, so people wouldn’t recognize you.

By: Avinash

Avinash — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:17:50 +0000

Thank goodness I have such a unique name. I am omnipotent!

The only way to undo personal bad is to do personal good. If you’ve commited a crime, you can rectify it by showing contrition instead of wailing at the system.

Realize that most employers won’t care if you’re a duitful public servant, contribute to charities, create value for other people, or just do things that put you in the right. Just as the Internet can be a tool for bad image-branding, it can do the same to put you in the good.

By: Joseph Logan

Joseph Logan — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:02:52 +0000

Those questions are anything but trivial. You’ll probably get scores of people saying “OMG! I looked myself up and found…” Mine turned up an HOV lane violation of which I was not aware (seriously?) and someone with my precise name and very nearly the same date of birth who has gotten into much more trouble than I. One of the challenges here seems to be that there are not the usual avenues of recourse one would have with a credit record, for example. That would seem to set up some Kafka-esque dilemmas.

Like an in-absentia conviction for driving in the HOV lane, for example…