| :===:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:===: |
| :== ==: |
| :== Exploring Information-America ==: |
| :== :=============================: ==: |
| :== by ==: |
| :== The Omega White Knight ==: |
| :== Restricted Data Transmissions (RDT) Cult of the Dead Cow (-cDc-) ==: |
| :== ==: |
| :== ==: |
| :== "Truth Is Cheap, But Information Costs!" ==: |
| :== ==: |
| :== ------------------------ ==: |
| :== ==: |
| :== "Textfiles: We're in it for the girlies and the money." ==: |
| :== ==: |
| :== Monkey-Boyz! 1/24/92 ==: |
| :===:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:===: |
|
|
|
|
| Introduction |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| The Information Era has only recently come of age; powerful database |
| technology has become more affordable to implement (witness MCI's ability to |
| maintain a database of the people you most frequently call for participation in |
| its Friends & Family program), and parallel to it, information gathering has |
| become more extensive and more scrutinizing. After weapons manufacturing, and |
| drug running, "information gathering" is probably one of the most profitable |
| enterprises in America. |
|
|
| Over the past two decades, credit bureaus, telephone companies and direct |
| marketers have collectively amassed complete consumer profiles on over 150 |
| million Americans. But for the most part, this information has been used only |
| to predict consumers' future buying habits, or worse: to influence them. For |
| billing and marketing purposes, up-to-date address and telephone information, |
| as well as information about your household has been incidentally maintained. |
|
|
| But, until recently, none of this information was COMMERCIALLY available |
| IN A SINGLE DATABASE, specifically with law enforcement, private-investigators, |
| bounty-hunters and lawyers in mind. To our knowledge, Information America is |
| the first accessible service to make use of previously collected data for the |
| expressed purpose of providing the up-to-date whereabouts, personal profiles |
| and information regarding legal entanglements (i.e., bankruptcy filings, |
| lawsuits, etc.) of as many Americans as possible. |
|
|
|
|
| Information America |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ |
| "Whether you are conducting a background check, looking for a witness, |
| skip tracing, or gathering information for court, [Info America] gives |
| you a quick, easy method for gathering information on individuals across |
| the country... at the touch of a key." |
|
|
| Information America (IA) provides a single service whose databases cross- |
| index the Postal Service's National Change of Address file (NCOA), major |
| publisher and direct marketing companies' client information, birth records, |
| driver's license records, phone books, voter registrations, various |
| governmental records, and more. IA boasts that over 111 million names, 80 |
| million households and 61 million telephone numbers are maintained (as |
| reasonably up-to-date as possible) on-line. |
|
|
| Together with IA's access to additional databases, such as Dun & |
| Bradstreet, Secretary of State records and records from up to 49 government |
| agencies, you can: |
|
|
| * Locate a missing defendant or witness and obtain a neighbor listing for |
| further investigation. |
|
|
| * Locate corporate officers, share-holders, or missing heirs. |
|
|
| * Locate individuals for collection purposes. |
|
|
| * Locate a fugitive parent who's kidnapped his child from the other parent |
| during a custody battle. |
|
|
| * Identify the corporate affiliations of an individual. |
|
|
| * Examine bankruptcy, lawsuit, liens and judgement records on individuals |
| and businesses. |
|
|
| * Examine Securities and Exchange Commission filings and business news |
| compiled from major newswires. |
|
|
| * Gather information about a company's officers, ownership, financial |
| status and parent/subsidiary relationships. |
|
|
| * Determine if a foreign corporation has a resident agent for local |
| service of process (i.e., for serving a lawsuit). |
|
|
|
|
| Logging onto IA |
| ~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~ |
| Access to Information America is provided through your local Tymnet dialup |
| (7-E-1); use a terminal identifier of 'a', and type "infoam" at the "please log |
| in:" prompt. IA will prompt you with the familiar VAX 'USERNAME' and |
| 'PASSWORD' prompts. Usernames of the form "BIDAxxxx" (where x is a digit) are |
| recognizable to the VAX as IA accounts and cause it to execute the script that |
| provides the interactive database environment once the correct password is |
| supplied. Accounts which bypass the interactive environment and provide you |
| with the normal VAX shell-access must exist, but neither White Knight nor I |
| have explored that avenue. |
|
|
| In any event, once you log on, you are greeted with something similar to: |
|
|
| ----------------------------[ Title Screen ]---------------------------- |
|
|
| Welcome to VAX/VMS version V5.4-2 on node ALAMO |
| Last interactive login on Thursday, 17-SEP-1991 12:47 |
|
|
|
|
| COMPUTER EQUIPMENT SELECTION MENU |
|
|
|
|
| What type of computer equipment or software are you using? |
|
|
|
|
| 1. PERSONAL COMPUTER (or 100% IBM compatible) |
| 2. PERSONAL COMPUTER with WESTMATE SOFTWARE |
| 3. WESTLAW TERMINAL |
| 4. OTHER EQUIPMENT |
| 5. NETWORK SYSTEM (TTY) |
|
|
| 99. EXIT OFF SYSTEM |
|
|
|
|
| Please call Information America's Client Support at 1-(800) 235-4008 |
| if you would like assistance. |
|
|
|
|
| Please specify number: 1 |
|
|
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * |
| * * |
| * W E L C O M E T O T H E * |
| * * |
| * I N F O R M A T I O N A M E R I C A N E T W O R K * |
| * * |
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * |
|
|
| For details select menu option 75 on the beginning IA Menu |
|
|
| * Information America Expands California Lawsuits! |
|
|
| * Global Real Property Asset Locator Now Online! |
|
|
| * Cover All the Bases...Using the NEW, IMPROVED CORPORATE GLOBAL Service! |
|
|
|
|
| Enter your name (last name first): public, john |
|
|
| ----------------------------[ Title Screen ]---------------------------- |
|
|
| In most cases, IA's clients use IBMs or compatibles to connect. However, |
| option 1 (PERSONAL COMPUTER (or 100% IBM compatible)) works well enough for |
| anyone who can emulate VT-100. |
|
|
| The "Enter your name (last name first)" prompt is purely for your own |
| internal billing purposes so that you, as a legitimate account holder, can |
| track account use by separate members of your corporation. Hypothetically |
| speaking, if someone were interested in accessing the system without a valid |
| account of their own, the most likely way to alleviate suspicion would be to |
| use the name of someone who actually works at the account holder's organization |
| -- the account holder himself, for instance. |
|
|
| At some point, IA will prompt you to enter a Client Billing Code. Again, |
| this information is purely for the account holder's own internal billing |
| purposes. IA is an expensive service; on top of the $95 per month fee, there |
| are hourly connect charges, per-item charges and several hidden costs. If only |
| for that reason alone, IA's clients tend to be very anal about cross-checking |
| their itemized bills. If possible, provide a Client Billing Code which is |
| consistent with the account holder's organization's billing code scheme. |
|
|
|
|
| Information America: Main Menu |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ |
| There are 19 main search-options available through IA, which fall into |
| three categories: |
|
|
| - Corporate, UCC, & Related Records |
| - Nationwide Services |
| - County & Court Records |
|
|
| ------------------------------[ Main Menu ]----------------------------- |
|
|
| INFORMATION AMERICA NETWORK 1 |
|
|
| I N F O R M A T I O N A M E R I C A B E G I N N I N G M E N U |
| (Copyright 1991, Information America, Inc.) |
|
|
| CORPORATE, UCC, & RELATED RECORDS |
| 1. Corporate Global (CGL) |
| 2. Corporate & Limited Partnership Records (COR) |
| 3. State & County UCCs, Liens & Judgments (ULJ) |
| 4. State UCC & Lien Filings (UCC) |
|
|
| 5. Sleuth (SL) 6. Litigation Prep (LP) |
|
|
| NATIONWIDE SERVICES COUNTY & COURT RECORDS |
| 7. People Finder (PF) 15. County Records (COU) |
| 8. Executive Affiliation (EA) 16. Bankruptcy Records (BNK) |
| 9. Business Finder (BF) 17. Lawsuits (LS) |
| 10. Business News (BN) 18. Real Property Asset Locator (RP) |
| 11. SEC Filings (SEC) 19. Real Prop, Liens & Judgments (RLJ) |
| 12. Duns Business Records Plus (DB) |
| 13. Name Availability/Reservation (NAR) 75. Help Line (HL) |
| 14. Document Ordering eXpress (DOX) 99. Exit the System (OFF) |
|
|
| Enter the menu number or abbreviation of your choice: |
|
|
| ------------------------------[ Main Menu ]----------------------------- |
|
|
| Of the three categories, options under NATIONWIDE SERVICES are the most |
| interesting. Information America is easy to use, completely menu-driven and |
| features extensive on-line Help. That having been said, White Knight and I |
| will cover only a few of IA's features and leave exploration of the more |
| obscure ones to the reader. |
|
|
|
|
| PEOPLE FINDER |
| ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ |
| The power of People Finder lies not only in its ability to tap various |
| large store-houses of data, but in its flexibility of search criteria. (NOTE: |
| People Finder is available Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to midnight, Eastern |
| Standard time. Holidays are excluded.) |
|
|
| People Finder is made up of four services: SKIP TRACER, TELEPHONE TRACKER, |
| PERSON LOCATOR, and PEOPLE FINDER MULTITRACK. |
|
|
| Depending on the information available, a People Finder profile may |
| include current address, telephone number, residence type, length of residence, |
| gender, date of birth, up to four household members and their dates of birth |
| and a neighbor listing. |
|
|
| SKIP TRACER traces a person's moves or verifies the current address when all |
| you have is an old address. You will enter the person's name, street number, |
| street name, and either the Zip Code or city/state. If your subject is in IA's |
| files, a profile will display that includes the address he moved to (or current |
| address), phone number, length of residence, and more. You may also request a |
| list of 10 of the person's neighbors. A profile on the current resident at |
| your subject's old address and up to 10 neighbors there may also be available. |
| This gives you several contacts to help you find your subject. |
|
|
| TELEPHONE TRACKER tracks down the owner of a telephone number. You must enter |
| the phone number and either the area code or the city/state. If a match is |
| found, you may look at a profile of that individual/residence and a listing of |
| up to 10 neighbors. |
|
|
| PERSON LOCATOR helps you locate a person when specific address information is |
| unavailable. Enter the person's name and indicate whether you wish to conduct |
| a search by city, state(s), zip or nationwide* PERSON LOCATOR will compile a |
| list of names (up to 300 names for nationwide and up to 100 names for |
| individual state searches) that match the information entered. When you find |
| the right name, you may request a profile and neighbor listing for that |
| individual. |
|
|
| PEOPLE FINDER MULTITRACK helps you locate multiple people during one search. |
| Search results are available the following business day. For each of your |
| subjects, enter the name and indicate the geographic area you wish to search -- |
| nationwide*, multi state, state, city or zip. You may enter up to 25 names per |
| search. Sign off the system and let Information America do the work for you. |
| The following business day, log on to Information America and access the People |
| Finder Menu by entering PF at the Information America Beginning Menu. From the |
| People Finder Menu, you may view the results of People Finder MultiTrack by |
| entering RR (Review People Finder MultiTrack). |
|
|
| REVIEW PEOPLE FINDER MULTITRACK allows you to review the status of each of the |
| searches you requested. You may choose to view the results of each completed |
| search at this time. Search results will be stored for seven days from the day |
| you requested the search. You may review the search results at any time during |
| the seven-day time period through the Review People Finder MultiTrack option. |
| Search results include a summary listing of names that match the information |
| entered (up to 300 names for nationwide and up to 100 names for individual |
| state searches). From the summary, you may select individual profiles and |
| neighbor listings. |
|
|
| * Nationwide search is not available for specific common surnames. For a list |
| of these surnames, enter #92 View Common Names (VC), from the People Finder |
| Menu. |
|
|
|
|
| -------------------------[ People Finder Menu ]------------------------- |
|
|
| INFORMATION AMERICA NETWORK |
|
|
| P E O P L E F I N D E R |
| (Copyright 1991, Information America, Inc.) |
| Client Billing Code: 123456 |
|
|
| 1. Person Locator (PL) (Search by name & location) |
| 2. Skip Tracer (ST) (Search by name & last known address) |
| 3. Telephone Tracker (TT) (Search by telephone number) |
| 4. People Finder MultiTrack (PX) (Multiple searches by name & location |
| with results available next business day) |
| 5. Review People Finder MultiTrack Results (RR) |
|
|
| 70. Revise Client Billing Code (BC) |
| 75. Help Screen (?) |
| 92. View Common Names (VC) |
| 95. Description of Service (DES) |
| 99. Go to Beginning Menu (BEG) |
| OFF Exit off the System (OFF) |
|
|
| -------------------------[ People Finder Menu ]------------------------- |
|
|
| If People Finder locates your subject, a profile containing the following |
| information can be displayed: |
|
|
| Name Usually first and last name of head of household. |
| Address Street or route, city, state, and ZIP. |
|
|
| * The following fields will display only if the information is available. * |
|
|
| Phone Number Current phone number, if listed in the phone book. |
| Approx. Birth Date Birth date of the individual listed in the Name field. |
| (May be an approximation.) |
| Gender (FEMALE, MALE, UNKNOWN) Refers to person in Name field. |
| Length of Residence Number of consecutive years this person has appeared at |
| this address. |
| Residence Type Number of last names found at this address. (Useful in |
| identifying multi-family residences.) Can be single, |
| double, triple, quad, 5-9 units, 10-19 units, 20-49 |
| units, 50-100 units, 100+ units. |
| Additional Household Names and approximate birth dates of up to 4 |
| Members individuals residing at this address and having the |
| same last name as person listed in Name field. |
| (Usually taken from birth records.) |
|
|
|
|
| People Finder: A Sample Search |
| ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ |
| ------------------------[ People Finder Search ]------------------------ |
|
|
| Last Name: public First Name: jane |
| Enter City or ZIP code. |
| City: ANYTOWN ZIP Code: 90210 |
|
|
|
|
| Searching... |
|
|
|
|
| INFORMATION AMERICA NETWORK--PEOPLE FINDER |
| Name Searched: PUBLIC JANE |
|
|
| PERSON LOCATOR |
| Last Name Summary |
|
|
| No. First Name Street City/State ZIP Phone No. |
| --- ------------ ---------------------- ---------------- ----- ------------ |
| 1 JANE 27 AVENIDA AVE ANYTOWN CA 90210 213-727-8023 |
| * 2 JOHN 69 CALLE DE LOS PUTOS ANYTOWN CA 90211 213-000-0000 |
|
|
| * PUBLIC JANE has been found as an additional household member. |
|
|
| Searching... |
|
|
|
|
| INFORMATION AMERICA NETWORK--PEOPLE FINDER - Detail |
| Name Searched: PUBLIC JANE |
|
|
| PERSON LOCATOR |
| Resident Profile |
|
|
| Name: JANE PUBLIC |
| Address: 27 AVENIDA AVE |
| ANYTOWN, CA 90210 |
| Approximate Date of Birth: 10/66 |
| Gender: FEMALE |
| Length of Residence: 3 YEARS |
| Residence Type: SINGLE |
|
|
| **** Additional Household Names **** |
| Name Approximate Date of Birth |
| MICHAEL 04/68 |
|
|
|
|
| Searching... |
|
|
| INFORMATION AMERICA NETWORK--PEOPLE FINDER - Detail |
| Name Searched: PUBLIC JANE |
|
|
| PERSON LOCATOR |
| Neighbor Listing |
|
|
| Resident: JANE PUBLIC |
| Address: 27 AVENIDA AVE |
| ANYTOWN, CA 90210 |
| Residence |
| Name Phone# Address Length(yrs)/Type |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| WILLIAM PRESTON (818) 727-8125 12 BOGUS AVE 12 SINGLE |
| THEODORE LOGAN (818) 725-8643 17 BOGUS AVE 04 DOUBLE |
| KRIS APPLEGATE (818) 685-2112 19 BOGUS AVE 03 TRIPLE |
| MARTIN MCFLY (818) 727-0353 26 BOGUS AVE 23 SINGLE |
| STAN CISNEROS (818) 727-4973 30 BOGUS AVE 16 SINGLE |
| LUCY BYRNE (818) 727-8765 33 BOGUS AVE 10 SINGLE |
| JONATHAN DEPP (818) 725-2012 35 BOGUS AVE 06 SINGLE |
|
|
| ------------------------[ People Finder Search ]------------------------ |
|
|
|
|
| Notes on People Finder |
| ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ |
| IA is only as accurate as public records reflect. People who move |
| frequently or move from apartment to apartment (students, for instance) are |
| either not likely to be found in IA, or the information IA provides is likely |
| to be out-dated. In one search we performed, IA concluded that our subject had |
| lived at his residence for 3 years when, in fact, the subject had been living |
| there for over 15 years. |
|
|
| Unlisted telephone numbers are frequently available through IA if, for |
| example, your subject's unlisted number has appeared in a City Directory. |
| Curiously, information seems to be disappearing from IA, in some cases. A year |
| ago, White Knight and I looked up a celebrity's address and telephone number, |
| both of which IA correctly found. When we performed the same search recently, |
| IA failed to find the celebrity in its records. Searches on other individuals |
| which once listed their unlisted telephone numbers now yield "000-0000". We |
| have no explanation for why this seems to have happened. |
|
|
|
|
| Overview of IA's other options |
| ~~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ |
| SLEUTH |
| ====== |
|
|
| By creating a list of affiliated names -- "clues" -- Sleuth helps you |
| uncover relationships between businesses and individuals. Enter a name and |
| check official records from up to 49 government agencies. |
|
|
| CONTENTS: Over 100 searches* combined in one... from these services: |
|
|
| State UCC/lien filings in: CA,CO,IL,IA,MD,MA,MO,NE,NC,PA,SC,TX |
| Corp/LP records in above states, PLUS: AZ,CT,DE,GA,IN,MI,NV,OK,OR,UT,WI |
| Sales and Use Tax information in: CA, TX |
|
|
| County Assumed/Fictitious Names from: Los Angeles, San Francisco (CA) |
| Dallas, Harris (TX) |
| County UCC filings from: Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett (GA) |
| Dallas, Harris (TX) |
|
|
|
|
| LITIGATION PREP |
| ========== ==== |
|
|
| CONTENTS: State Corporate & Limited Partnership Information from: |
| Arizona*, California, Colorado, Connecticut*, Delaware, |
| Florida, Georgia, Illinois*, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, |
| Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North |
| Carolina*, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, |
| Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin (* indicates Limited |
| Partnership information is not available from these states). |
|
|
| Searches include the following, where available: |
| Business Names, Owner Names, Prior Names, Assumed Names, |
| Fictitious Owner Names, Trade Names, DBA Names, and Merged |
| Out/Consolidated Names |
|
|
| GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Litigation Prep allows you to simultaneously search state |
| corporate and limited partnership information and county-filed fictitious |
| business and assumed names, to assist you in obtaining the details you need to |
| begin preparing a lawsuit. |
|
|
| HOW THIS SERVICE WILL HELP YOU: Litigation Prep is designed to help litigation |
| professionals when gathering information to file a lawsuit. This service |
| provides the researcher with valuable pieces of information, such as business |
| name, agent name and address, principal address, type and status. Good |
| Standing/Existence Status is also available in the following states: |
|
|
| AZ, CT, DE, GA, IL, IN, IA, MA, MI, MO, NE, NC, OK, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, WA, |
| and WI. |
|
|
| CONTENTS/SOURCES: Below, you will find the informational contents searched |
| in each state. Inactive records are included for informational purposes. |
| Unless otherwise specified, files are updated weekly. |
|
|
| HOURS: Litigation Prep is available Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to |
| 12:00 AM Eastern Time. The FLORIDA component of the service is only available |
| >from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. |
|
|
|
|
| CORPORATE GLOBAL, CORPORATE & LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS |
| ========= ====== ========= = ======= ============ |
|
|
| CONTENTS: State Corporate & Limited Partnership Records from: |
|
|
| AZ*, CA, CO, CT*, DE, FL, GA, IL*, IN, IA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, |
| NV, NC*, OK, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, WA, and WI |
| (* indicates Limited Partnership Records are not available |
| from these states). |
|
|
| States included in the Officer/Partner Name search: |
|
|
| CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, MA, MI, MO, NV, OR, PA, TX, and UT. |
|
|
| State Corporate and Limited Partnership Records are available in many key |
| states. A complete listing of states and the information provided by state is |
| available on the following screens. Records are accessible one state at a |
| time or all at once (CORPORATE GLOBAL). When you conduct a CORPORATE GLOBAL |
| name search, an Index screen will list in which states matches have been found. |
| You can either review all matches, or select specific states to view. |
|
|
| From the CORPORATE GLOBAL menu, you have the following search capabilities: |
|
|
| Business Name - Includes all entities available in the online state |
| corporate & limited partnership files. |
|
|
| Officer/Partner Name - Information varies by state, but may include officers, |
| directors, incorporators and partners. |
|
|
| Note: Individual states offer additional options such as a search by |
| Corporate ID (Charter) Number or Registered Agent Name. |
|
|
| SOURCE & UPDATE INFORMATION: |
|
|
| State Corporate & Limited Partnership files are obtained from the official |
| state agency. Records searched vary from state to state. For the exact types |
| searched by state, see the following screens. Inactive records are included |
| for informational purposes. Files are updated weekly unless noted in each |
| specific state description. |
|
|
| In California and Texas, there is a unique search option called BUSINESS |
| LOCATOR. |
|
|
| In California, this option searches the Board of Equalization (BOE), |
| Licensing and Taxation Information which is the official governing source of |
| California Sales and Use Tax permit holders. This information is available |
| only from the California menu and is not included in the Global service. The |
| file is updated monthly. |
|
|
| In Texas, this option searches the Sales & Use Tax Taxpayer Information |
| file, which is comprised of the official record of the Office of the |
| Comptroller of Public Accounts. As in California, this information is |
| available only from the Texas menu and is not included in the Global service. |
| The file is updated by Information America weekly. |
|
|
|
|
| STATE & COUNTY UCCs |
| ===== = ====== ==== |
|
|
| CONTENTS: State UCC and lien filings from: |
| California*, Colorado*, Florida, Illinois, Iowa*, |
| Maryland, Massachusetts*, Missouri, Nebraska*, |
| North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas*. |
| (* indicates Lien filings available from these states) |
|
|
| County UCC, lien, and judgment filings from: |
| California: Los Angeles and San Francisco counties |
| Georgia: Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties |
| Texas: Dallas Metroplex and Harris county |
|
|
| GENERAL DESCRIPTION: State & County UCCs, Liens and Judgments allows you to |
| search state UCC and lien filings, plus county UCC, lien and judgment filings. |
|
|
| HOW THIS SERVICE WILL HELP YOU: State & County UCCs, Liens and Judgments may |
| be used by anyone who is looking for information on outstanding UCCs, liens or |
| judgments on an individual or business, as well as assets or financial |
| obligations. For example, litigators, real estate specialists, and merger and |
| acquisition specialists may use this service to assist them in the following |
| ways: |
|
|
| Litigators: |
| ** Obtain financial information on prospective clients |
| ** Help determine the outstanding obligations of the opposing party which |
| could impact the client's ability to seize assets |
| ** Help determine the financial relationships between the opposing party |
| and other entities |
| ** Help determine if the debts and obligations of the opposing party are a |
| possible motive for filing suit |
|
|
| Real Estate Specialists: |
| ** Conduct a cursory look at the beginning of the transaction to help |
| determine the existence of filings which could cloud title |
| ** Help determine if the seller has outstanding tax liens filed against |
| him/her |
| ** Help determine whether any personal property involved with the |
| transaction has a prior security interest |
|
|
| Merger and Acquisition Specialists: |
| ** Help determine financial standing of a firm or a principal of the firm |
| and identify outstanding obligations |
| ** Help determine the financial relationships the firm or principal has |
| with other entities |
| ** Determine personal property owned by the firm or principal that is being |
| used to secure loans |
| ** Conduct a final check before closing to help confirm that no new matters |
| have been filed which could adversely affect the transaction |
|
|
| SEARCH RESULTS: Searches by Name will retrieve matches of the name searched in |
| the following: |
|
|
| From the state UCC and lien files - debtor names |
| From the county UCC, lien and judgment files - |
| California: grantors |
| Georgia: grantors, taxpayers, debtors, and defendants |
| Texas: all parties (in Dallas Metroplex); grantors and grantees |
| (from Abstracts of Judgment only), and debtors (in Harris |
| County) |
|
|
| PLEASE NOTE: Searches of debtors in Florida will retrieve only active filings. |
| The option to view Florida's inactive files is offered, at no additional |
| charge, when you select either E (=Exit) or N (=New Search) from the summary |
| screen or last page of a detail report. |
|
|
| HOURS: State & County UCCs, Liens and Judgments is available Monday through |
| Friday, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM EST. The FLORIDA component of the service is |
| only available from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday. |
|
|
|
|
| STATE UCC & LIEN FILINGS |
| ===== === = ==== ======= |
|
|
| GENERAL DESCRIPTION: STATE UCC & LIEN FILINGS allows you to simultaneously |
| search UCC and lien filings in all of the states that Information America has |
| on-line or you may search filings in a specific state. |
|
|
| Our UCC service includes documents filed under the Uniform Commercial Code in |
| the following states: |
|
|
| California Colorado Florida |
| Illinois Iowa Maryland |
| Massachusetts Missouri Nebraska |
| North Carolina Pennsylvania South Carolina |
| Texas |
|
|
| Additionally, the following liens are included: |
| California: Federal and state tax liens, attachment liens |
| and judgment liens. |
| Colorado: Federal tax liens and judgment liens. |
| Iowa: Federal tax liens, Verified liens |
| and Thresherman's liens. |
| Massachusetts: State tax liens and child support liens. |
| Nebraska: Agricultural input liens, consumer liens, and |
| statutory liens. |
| Texas: Federal tax liens, utility security instruments, |
| and farm filings. |
|
|
| SOURCE: Data is obtained directly from the official state sources: The |
| Secretary of State in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, |
| Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas; the Department |
| of State in both Florida and Pennsylvania; and the Maryland Department of |
| Assessments and Taxation. |
|
|
| SEARCH RESULTS: Unless indicated otherwise, a debtor name search will reveal |
| listings of active and inactive debtors that match the name being searched. A |
| secured party/assignee search will result in a list of matching active and |
| inactive secured parties and assignees. Instrument numbers can be searched |
| only in an individual state. |
|
|
| In FLORIDA, a debtor or secured party search will reveal only active |
| filings. The option to search Florida's inactive files is offered, at no |
| additional charge, at the end of a detail report for an active Florida UCC. |
|
|
| In MASSACHUSETTS, a secured party search will locate secured parties |
| and, if the UCC has been assigned, assignors; it will not locate assignees |
| since they are not included in the database. |
|
|
| HOURS: STATE UCC & LIEN FILINGS is available Monday through Friday, from |
| 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM EST. The FLORIDA component of the service is only available |
| >from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday. |
|
|
|
|
| COUNTY COURT RECORDS |
| ====== ===== ======= |
|
|
| Information America provides online access to local court records from |
| four states. |
|
|
| California - Records are available from Los Angeles, Orange and San |
| Francisco counties. Real Property Asset Locator is available for the entire |
| state. |
|
|
| Georgia - The Atlanta metro area is online. It includes Cobb, DeKalb, |
| Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. |
|
|
| Pennsylvania - Records are available for Philadelphia county. |
|
|
| Texas - Records are available for the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, which |
| includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant counties. Records are also |
| available for Harris County (Houston). |
|
|
| Records vary from county to county, but may include Abstracts of Judgment, |
| Assumed Names, Civil Suits, County UCCs, General Execution Dockets, Limited |
| Partnerships, Lis Pendens, Probate and Domestic Suits, Real Property Filings, |
| Tax Liens and Trade Name Index. The Court Record menus specify the records |
| available in each county. |
|
|
|
|
| LAWSUITS |
| ======== |
|
|
| LAWSUITS EFFECTIVE DATE INFORMATION |
|
|
| File Source Begin Through |
| ------------------------- --------------------- --------- -------- |
| CALIFORNIA |
| Los Angeles County County Clerk 01-01-80 12-31-91 |
| Civil (Superior) |
| Domestic (Superior) |
| Probate (Superior) |
| Criminal (Superior) 01-01-80 12-31-91 |
| Orange County County Clerk 01-01-85 12-13-91 |
| Civil (Superior) |
| Family Law (Superior) |
| San Mateo County County Clerk 01-01-84 11-09-91 |
| Civil (Superior) |
|
|
| CALIFORNIA |
| Santa Clara County County Clerk 01-01-85 12-04-91 |
| Civil (Superior & |
| Municipal) |
| Probate (Superior) |
| Criminal (Superior) |
| Family Law (Superior) |
| Contra Costa County County Clerk 01-02-80 11-30-91 |
| Civil (Superior) |
| Probate (Superior) |
| Family Law (Superior) |
| Wills 01-02-90 11-30-91 |
| San Diego County County Clerk 06-18-74 01-16-92 |
| Civil (Superior) |
|
|
| GEORGIA |
| Cobb Civil (Superior) County Clerk 1982 01-17-92 |
| DeKalb Civil (Superior) County Clerk 1981 01-15-92 |
| Fulton Civil (Superior) County Clerk 1980 12-26-91 |
| Gwinnett Civil (Sup/State) County Clerk 1990 01-18-92 |
|
|
| ILLINOIS |
| Cook Civil Law Division Clerk of Circuit Court 01-01-75 12-16-91 |
| All Districts (Circuit) |
| Cook Civil Municipal Clerk of Circuit Court 01-01-85 12-16-91 |
| Division 1st District- |
| Chicago- (Circuit) |
|
|
| NEW JERSEY* |
| Civil Law Division Clerk of Superior Court 01-01-88 SEE BELOW |
| Atlantic 12-09-91 Bergen 11-19-91 Burlington 12-03-91 |
| Camden 11-20-91 Cape May 12-05-91 Cumberland 10-18-91 |
| Essex 12-04-91 Gloucester 12-09-91 Hudson 12-06-91 |
| Hunterdon 12-10-91 Mercer 10-17-91 Middlesex 12-06-91 |
| Monmouth 11-08-91 Morris 12-05-91 Ocean 12-04-91 |
| Passaic 12-04-91 Salem 12-09-91 Somerset 11-22-91 |
| Sussex 11-25-91 Union 12-02-91 Warren 12-02-91 |
|
|
| *New Jersey Superior Court Civil Lawsuit information is collected for |
| Information America. Extreme care is exercised in gathering this information. |
| However, it is not the official legal reporting organ of the New Jersey |
| Superior Court. Information pertaining to civil action arising from |
| automobile accident claims, forfeiture, condemnation and name change |
| litigation is not collected and is not contained in this file. |
|
|
| NEW YORK |
| New York (Supreme) & Office of Court *** 01-13-92 |
| Suffolk County (County) Administration |
|
|
| *** The beginning dates for New York County's Supreme Civil Court and Suffolk |
| County Civil Court cases vary from county to county and are listed below. |
| The "Current Through" date represents the date the Office of Court |
| Administration last compiled the information for Information America. |
|
|
| Bronx 11-1985 Nassau 02-1978 Queens 12-1985 |
| Dutchess 08-1985 New York 11-1985 Rockland 09-1985 |
| Erie 11-1985 Orange 08-1985 Suffolk 03-1983 |
| Kings 11-1985 Putnam 08-1985 Westchester 01-1981 |
|
|
| PENNSYLVANIA |
| Philadelphia Civil Office of Prothonotary 01-1982 01-11-92 |
| (Common Pleas) |
|
|
| TEXAS |
| Dallas Civil (District) County District Court 01-01-70 01-10-92 |
|
|
|
|
| REAL PROPERTY ASSET LOCATOR |
| ==== ======== ===== ======= |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Locator integrates information from several sources to |
| help users identify and estimate the value of real assets or identify the owner |
| of a particular piece of property. |
|
|
| The information, which is collected for Information America, is comprised |
| of the tax assessor's official roll in each county. Additional information is |
| obtained from private source databases to enhance tax roll information. |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Locator provides four ways to search. |
|
|
| 1. Asset Locator -- Discover the property owned by an individual or business |
| by entering the name. You may conduct a global, statewide, metro area, |
| county or city (where taxes are assessed at municipal level) search. |
|
|
| 2. Ownership Locator -- Discover the identity of the property owner by |
| entering the address of the property in question. |
|
|
| 3. Property of Comparable Value -- Estimate value of real property based on |
| sales of similar real property in the given geographic area. |
|
|
| 4. Assessor's Parcel Number -- Discover the identity of the property owner by |
| entering the Assessor's Parcel Number of the property in question. |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Locator is available in Arizona, California, |
| Washington DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, |
| Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and |
| Virginia. |
|
|
|
|
| REAL PROPERTY ASSET TRANSFERS |
| ==== ======== ===== ========= |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Transfers integrates information from several sources |
| to help you identify recent real property ownership transfers. |
|
|
| Use Real Property Asset Transfers to help confirm that your party still |
| owns a particular piece of property or has recently acquired new property. |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Transfers provides two ways to search. |
|
|
| 1. Asset Transfers--Discover the property acquired or sold by an individual or |
| business by entering the name. You may conduct a statewide, metro area or |
| county search. |
|
|
| 2. Ownership Transfers--Discover the identity of the seller and buyer of a |
| particular piece of real property by entering the address of the property |
| in question. |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Transfers information, which is collected for |
| Information America, is derived from deed transfers maintained by county |
| recorders' offices in each county. However, it is not the official legal |
| reporting organ of the county recorders' offices. |
|
|
| Real Property Asset Transfers is available in select counties in Arizona, |
| California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, |
| Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, |
| Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. |
|
|
|
|
| EXECUTIVE AFFILIATION |
| ========= =========== |
|
|
| CONTENTS: Over 30 million executives nationwide. One search will display |
| companies nationwide where an individual is listed as an executive. |
| Two types of reports may be available: the Executive Profile and the |
| Executive Brief. |
|
|
| The Executive Profile is derived from information gathered by |
| American Business Information, Inc (ABI). ABI compiles business |
| listings from the yellow pages of 5,000 telephone directories. |
| Telephone calls to every business are then conducted to collect |
| the executive name and title. |
|
|
| The Executive Brief is derived from Corporate and Limited |
| Partnership Records filed in the following states: AZ,CA,CO,CT,FL, |
| GA,IL,IN,IA,MD,MA,MI,MO,NE,NV,NC,OK,OR,PA,SC,TX,UT,WA,WI. |
| NOTE: Delaware Records are not included. |
|
|
| Executive Affiliation is invaluable when you need to know the business |
| affiliations of an adverse party. When you enter an executive's name, reports |
| on over 30 million executives nationwide are searched. You will receive a |
| Summary Screen with a concise listing of where your selected individual is |
| listed as an executive. The detail report for each affiliation will be either |
| an Executive Brief or an Executive Profile. |
|
|
| The Executive Profile is derived from yellow page listings of 5,000 |
| telephone directories nationwide. The listings are individually verified to |
| collect the name of the top executive at that location and their title. The |
| information report may include this information in addition to the business |
| address, telephone number, SIC code, and type of business. The titles for |
| which an Executive Profile may be available include: President, Vice President, |
| Chairman of the Board, Owner, Executive Director, Manager, Administrator, |
| Principal, Publisher, Pastor, and Rabbi. |
|
|
| The Executive Brief is derived from Corporate and Limited Partnership |
| Records filed in the following states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, MD, |
| MA, MI, MO, NE, NC, NV, OK, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, WA, & WI. |
|
|
| (NOTE: Delaware Records are not included. Florida Records are available |
| Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST.) The second line in the |
| detail heading will list from which state Corporate/LP Record the information |
| is obtained. The information report may include executive name, title, |
| address, business name and address, as well as other executives' names, |
| titles, and addresses associated with that business. Executive Briefs may be |
| available for Officers, Partners, Agents, and Incorporators. |
|
|
| USE EXECUTIVE AFFILIATION TO: |
|
|
| * Learn about an adverse party's business affiliations as part of |
| background checking. |
|
|
| * Verify names and addresses for pleadings and depositions. |
|
|
| * Uncover an executive's involvement in different businesses throughout |
| the country to determine possible transfer of assets, or other companies |
| to be named in a suit. |
|
|
| * Obtain background information on an executive as a crucial part of |
| performing due diligence. |
|
|
| * Explore possible conflicts of interest by looking for an executive's |
| involvement with other companies. |
|
|
| * Check on the business affiliations of a prospective client. |
|
|
|
|
| BUSINESS FINDER |
| ======== ====== |
|
|
| SOURCE: American Business Information, Inc. |
|
|
| CONTENTS: Over 14 million U.S. and 1.7 million Canadian business |
| listings compiled from the yellow pages of nearly 5,000 |
| telephone directories. Contains over 9.5 million separate |
| companies and 2 million professionals. |
|
|
| UPDATES: ABI continuously revises the information in the file, and |
| updates the data from available telephone directories |
| within six months after publication of the directory. |
| Information America receives quarterly updates from ABI. |
|
|
|
|
| BUSINESS NEWS |
| ======== ==== |
|
|
| SOURCE: Comtex Scientific Corporation |
|
|
| CONTENTS: News stories from major national and international |
| newswires, such as UPI, Kyodo, and TASS, press |
| releases, and other various sources. |
|
|
| Stories are available from November 1989. |
|
|
| UPDATES: Twice Daily |
|
|
| Business News allows you to gather articles from major national and |
| international newswires either by name, ticker symbol, industry or topic. |
| Business News industry categories include: |
|
|
| 1. Advertising (AD) 19. Electronics (EL) 37. Photography (PO) |
| 2. Aerospace (AE) 20. Entertainment (EN) 38. Plastics (PL) |
| 3. Agriculture (AG) 21. Environmental Srv (ES) 39. Prec Metals (PM) |
| 4. Autos (AU) 22. Financial Srv (FS) 40. Publishing (PB) |
| 5. Aviation (AV) 23. Food (FD) 41. Railroads (RR) |
| 6. Banking (BK) 24. Forestry Prod (FP) 42. Real Estate (RE) |
| 7. Beverages (BV) 25. Freight (FR) 43. Restaurant (RT) |
| 8. Biotechnology (BI) 26. Health Care (HC) 44. Retail (RL) |
| 9. Broadcasting (BR) 27. Industrial Prod (IP) 45. Rubber (RB) |
| 10. Bldg Materials (BM) 28. Insurance (IN) 46. Ship Building (SB) |
| 11. Business Srv (BS) 29. Machinery (MA) 47. Telecommun (TL) |
| 12. Chemicals (CH) 30. Metals (ME) 48. Textiles (TX) |
| 13. Computers (CM) 31. Mining (MI) 49. Tobacco (TB) |
| 14. Construction (CN) 32. Nuclear Energy (NE) 50. Toys (TY) |
| 15. Consumer Prod (CP) 33. Office Equipment (OE) 51. Travel Srv (TR) |
| 16. Defense Contrt (DC) 34. Personal Care (PC) 52. Trucks (TK) |
| 17. Education Srv (ED) 35. Petroleum Prod (PT) 53. Utilities (UT) |
| 18. Electronic Publ (EP) 36. Pharmaceuticals (PH) |
|
|
|
|
| BANKRUPTCY RECORDS |
| ========== ======= |
|
|
| SOURCE: The Bankruptcy Records are compiled for Information America |
| from the official records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. |
| These records contain all publicly available cases filed in |
| the following states: California, Georgia - Northern District |
| (Atlanta and Gainesville only), New Jersey, Pennsylvania - |
| Eastern District, and Texas. |
|
|
| CONTENTS: Bankruptcy records for both individuals and businesses are |
| available. The records include debtor names, case number, |
| location and date of filing, chapter number and more. |
|
|
| UPDATED: Weekly (California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Texas) |
| Bi-weekly (New Jersey) |
|
|
| You may select bankruptcy records by debtor name, social security/FEIN |
| number or by case number. |
|
|
|
|
| SEC FILINGS |
| === ======= |
|
|
| SOURCE: SEC Online, Inc. |
|
|
| CONTENTS: Full text documents filed with the Securities and Exchange |
| Commission by public companies traded on the New York and |
| American Stock Exchanges as well as selected National Market |
| System companies from NASDAQ. The documents available |
| online - 10-Ks, 10-Qs, Annual Reports, Proxy Statements, and |
| foreign company 20-Fs - contain all footnotes and selected |
| exhibits. A Company Profile is also included that |
| summarizes basic corporate information. |
|
|
| EFFECTIVE DATE: Information current from 07-01-1987. |
|
|
| UPDATES: Information America receives updates weekly from SEC Online. |
|
|
| Searches may be performed by company name or ticker symbol. |
|
|
|
|
| Notes on Information America |
| ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ |
| We mentioned that usernames beginning with "BIDA" are recognizable to the |
| IA system as IA accounts (as opposed to shell accounts). More than likely, |
| other usernames are also valid as IA accounts. |
|
|
| As with most systems, IA passwords are often easy to guess. Initial |
| passwords, which are assigned when an account is first created, are usually |
| composed of the account holder's first name, or first name plus a middle or |
| last initial. In some cases, the password is made up of the digits in the |
| username plus the first name of the account holder. In other cases, the |
| password is two random letters plus a two-digit number (ex: PG13). If users |
| are ever encouraged to change their password from its initial value, they |
| rarely seem to do so. |
|
|
| You've probably noticed that IA has specific operating times (Eastern |
| Standard Time). Most of IA's functions are inoperable during weekends and |
| holidays and outside those specific operating hours. Occasionally on weekends, |
| IA itself is down. Or more interestingly -- particularly on weekends -- the IA |
| interactive environment will malfunction, dropping you into the VAX shell. |
|
|
| IA's clients are mostly lawyers and paralegals working at legal firms, but |
| the FBI is also a major IA client. Television programs in the 60s and 70s |
| which depicted an FBI "Big Brother" computer system scared the public enough so |
| that it and the Congress have continually resisted efforts by the FBI to |
| implement such a system. In the mid 80s, for example, Congress voted against |
| the implementation of an FBI computer system which would allow them to monitor |
| telephone calls. Information America is the perfect solution for the FBI's |
| bureaucratic quandary. |
|
|
| IA has existed for at least two and a half years, but has remained |
| relatively unknown to the Telecom community until last year when MoD began |
| using IA's People Finder to locate and terrorize people. IA's low profile |
| isn't surprising; public backlash against Lotus' "MarketPlace" CD ROM -- |
| which contained marketing information on only a few million people at most -- |
| forced Lotus to abandon its project altogether after having invested tens of |
| thousands of dollars in advertising alone, just as it was about to release |
| MarketPlace. What Lotus was doing wasn't unusual; large direct marketing |
| firms, like National Demographics & Lifestyles (NDL) have been somewhat |
| covertly marketing consumer names and information on CD ROM for years (with |
| information such as how many telephones you have; the approximate ages of your |
| household's members; the gender of the household head; the number and type of |
| cars your household has; what the mortgage value on your house is; estimated |
| incomes for the heads of the household, etc...). The difference was that |
| Lotus was offering their CD ROM commercially so that anybody could, as the |
| public claimed, have the power of "Big Brother" at their fingertips. If the |
| public knew about Information America, knew that anyone could tap its eye-spy |
| capabilities, the outrage would be tremendous. |
|
|
| To market its database services, IA seems to have adopted a grass-roots |
| kind of approach. IA employs liaisons in major metropolitan cities whose |
| job it is to research and contact prospective clients -- lawyers, for example. |
| We are unaware of any advertising in specialized journals. |
|
|
| We take for granted the existence of government-run databases which |
| contain even more detailed information on Americans than IA possesses. Even |
| so, those databases are considerably smaller, and what's more, they're |
| well-regulated: the agencies that run them accountable by Law. The potential |
| for abuse by a system like Information America -- devoid of any checks and |
| balances -- is spectacular. MoD has already demonstrated this to a small |
| extent. The same technology advances which were supposed to make at-home |
| shopping a convenience and tailor marketing to your needs have now made |
| surveilling you cost-effective, accurate and as easy as touching a key. |
|
|
| One of the least reported items to come to light out of the Iran/Contra |
| proceedings was that, as head of the Federal Emergency Management |
| Administration (FEMA) -- the organization which coordinates relief efforts |
| across the United States during natural disasters -- Oliver North had drawn up |
| FEMA contingency plans of a different sort: in the event of war in Central |
| America, the Constitution was to be suspended and FEMA was to round up aliens |
| (particularly Hispanics) and US Citizens considered "subversive," and |
| interrogate them in Manzanar-like camps. Databases like Information America |
| would no doubt have been employed in locating the whereabouts of these people. |
|
|
| The importance of Information America isn't what it can do for you; |
| rather, what can be done with it to you. |
|
|
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
|
| White Knight and I can be reached at WKnight@ATDT.ORG and Omega@ATDT.ORG, |
| respectively. Additionally, we may be reached on Demon Roach Underground or |
| Pure Nihilism. We welcome any questions or comments you may have -- especially |
| any new information you may be able to add. Please do not contact us asking |
| for accounts or passwords. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
