Finding people finders
Want the dirt on a third party? Say you've lost track of an old high school buddy, for example, and you want to find out if he married the head of the cheerleading squad like he always said he would. Every background check starts with finding out where your subject lives and how to reach him or her. But many people aren't listed in traditional outlets such as phone books, or their listed information is outdated, or there are so many different addresses or phone numbers that you don't know where to start.
Ultimately, you may find that you have to pay for the data you really want.
The public eye
Public directories such as Switchboard, AnyWho, or InfoSpace contain street addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail handles for millions of people--much like the telephone white pages. Most online directories indeed get their information from phone book publishers or other data vendors, who in turn get their goods from mail-order houses, magazine publishers, and credit card companies. Trouble is, there are dozens of directories, and no two are exactly alike. And no single database contains everyone's contact information, so if you want to find someone, you'll have to try several. Even then, you may not find who you're looking for.
Your best bet: use a metasearch engine such as PeopleSearch.net, which lets you scan 18 phone and e-mail directories at once (though we recommend that you uncheck the ICQ search option--it crashed our PC five times). The downside: PeopleSearch opens up to 18 browser windows (but you have the option to nick it down to 10), which can be a nightmare to navigate.
And don't forget to try plain old Internet search engines. In our informal tests, Google turned up as many accurate addresses as AnyWho and Switchboard, the best of the people-finder directories.
Going to the source
To narrow your search, try combing specialised directories and public records databases. For example, Femina lets you search for sites created by, about, and for women; SeniorsSearch specialises in tracking down the over-50 set. Want to know if your subject is dead? Try the Social Security Death Index or, if he or she is famous, the Dead People Server.
The public record holds a wealth of information: births, deaths, property ownership, a variety of licenses, even criminal records. But only a fraction of this information is available online; how much varies hugely from state to state and county to county. Still, searching the few wired public records is worth a try; you'll find a listing of national and state records at Public Record Finder.com or Pacific Information Resources.
Money talks
If you want access to public records that aren't online, you usually have to pay. Information services such as US Search or KnowX.com will do your sleuthing for a small fee. For example, if you're looking for information about a business, KnowX.com charges from US$1.50 (to locate a business address) up to $360 (for a full Dun & Bradstreet report on an overseas firm.) These sites obtain information from government agencies as well as third-party data vendors such as LexisNexis and ChoicePoint.
Just don't expect too much, even if you choose to shell out the cash. We purchased a $60 "exhaustive super search" from US Search, which turned up a batch of our test subject's former addresses, including a private mailbox he hadn't used in 15 years. It also turned up the names of everyone else who's had that box in the interim--not the most useful information. Meanwhile, it missed such details as the fact that our subject is married, owns a house, and has two children.
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I did not buy a membership, I paid for software. I now have a $39 coaster next to my new computer. As the article implys, do not waste a dime on Net Detective or the scamer that sells it.