FOIA Funk–Lover’s Sweet Email Whisperings

This “hot” story almost slipped by my sharp sights except for catching this on the J. Craig Williams’ super Blog May It Please the Court (MIPTC), MIPTC.  Craig’s headline reads “Wife’s Sweet Email Whisperings To Lover End Up In Husband’s Hands.”  This story backs up my previous posts and my firm belief that a FOIA request, whether State or Federal, can turn up relevant and material information in almost any investigation.  Here, wife was having an affair with husband’s co-worker.  Wife and co-worker e-mailed each other, on government computers, sensitive and very personal communications.  Well, husband found out about affair and submitted a FOIA request for e-mail between wife and co-worker from the government agency.  The government agency resisted, but the other day, on November 19th, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip J. Shepherd ordered the e-mails written between wife and co-worker be released. 

It is important to note that the e-mails in issue were between wife who was a government employee and co-worker who is also a government employee.  Under Kentucky law, conversational e-mails and non-policy, fact e-mails are not subject to disclosure if the e-mails are between a government employee and a private citizen. 

Ah, FOIA— let’s keep those public records open records so that we all know what the government is doing and how it operates.

Keep “askin” questions.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Hey! Facebook Wants You!

The Washington Post carried an article today about Facebook’s use of an advertising Beacon to spread the buying habits of Facebook members around to their friends and contacts.  Quote from article: “Sean Lane’s purchase was supposed to be a surprise for his wife. Then it appeared as a news headline — “Sean Lane bought 14k White Gold 1/5 ct Diamond Eternity Flower Ring from overstock.com” — last week on the social networking Web site Facebook.

See Washington Post Article.

Social sites like Facebook, MySpace and others are an entertaining feature of the Internet, but watch out!  Many people put a lot of personal information on these sites.  Above is an example of what can happen to your private, personal information if you are not very careful.  One of many investigative techniques is searching the social sites for personal information required for a legitimate investigation. 

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Want Information About Who Has Federal Contract?

 I was reading one of my favorite Blogs–  beSpacific, written by Sabrina I. Pacifici who is an active member of the online legal community.  Sabrina writes about law and technology news and information.   Read her Blog to really know what is happening in legal news and technology. 

She wrote about new version of the OMB’s FedSpending.org Web site, now see USA Spending.  This is a free, searchable database of approximately $16.8 trillion in federal government spending, with complete annual data from FY 2000 through FY 2006 and partial data available for FY 2007.   The new version Sabrina writes about is better in that it allows more powerful searches of federal contracts and grants. 

This database could be very helpful to all private investigators or just curious investigators.  Find out whether a company or individual may have a federal contract.

Thanks, Sabrina.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Alleged VA Private Investigator? Virginia Private Investigator Requirements

A potential lawsuit against an “alleged private investigator” has been pending in the Monongalia, WV, Magistrate Court and other courts for several years.  Numerous news articles have referred to the lawsuits and the hearings conducted in various courts.

According to The West Virginia Record, West Virgina Record, a group of West Virginia residents filed a lawsuit against Jon Gigliotti reported to live in Lyndhurst, VA.  The lawsuits stem from the group hiring Gigliotti years ago to investigate a matter.  You can read details Here and Here.  The group claims that Gigliotti was paid money to conduct an investigation, but he did not do so. 

Hire A Virginia Private Investigator

If you want to hire a Virginia private investigator–whether in McLean, Fairfax, Arlington, Richmond, Sterling Centreville, Alexandria, Arlington, Vienna, Leesburg, Roanoke, Woodbridge, Louisa, or Winchester–you should make sure the individual is registered as a private investigator with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), Private Security Section, DCJS PSS/.  DCJS regulates the private security and private investigation business in Virginia.  In Virginia, a private investigator is registered as such after meeting all the DCJS education, training and background qualifications, see DCJS FAQ PI.  A registered private investigator can do private investigation work but only for a private security business licensed by DCJS, see DCJS Business. 

The above are the legal requirements for a private investigator to do business in Virginia.  Private investigators and private security businesses are highly regulated by the Commonwealth through DCJS.  There are rigid education and training requirements.  If you hire a Virginia private investigator, make sure they are registered and/or working for a licensed company.  In another post we will discuss how to hire a Virginia private investigator, what to look for and what to expect.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Is the Government Tracking You via Cell Phone?

The Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press reported in the rcfp sidebar today that the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, FOIA Request filed a FOIA request with the U.S. Department of Justice requesting documents about how federal officials have reportedly tracked people using their mobile phone signals. The FOIA requests comes after the Washington Post reported on the practice last week in the November 23 edition. 

The Post reported that federal law enforcement is routinely asking courts to order cell phone companies to furnish real time tracking data so they can locate drug traffickers, fugitives or other criminal suspects.  Some judges have granted such orders without requiring the usual “probable cause” standard under the U.S. Constitution, 4th Amendment. 

The article stated: “In a stinging opinion this month, a federal judge in Texas denied a request by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent for data that would identify a drug traffickers phone location by using the carrier’s E911 tracking capability. . . . Magistrate Judge Brian L. Owsley, of Corpus Christi division of the Southern District of Texas, said the agent’s affidavit failed to focus on “specifics necessary to establish probable cause, such as relevant dates, names and places.”  The judge wanted some specific information that the phone was being used in a criminal activity.  The judge said that the agent simply alleged that the subject trafficked in narcotics and used the phone to do so. 

 This is an issue that is of growing concern to privacy groups and to law enforcement.  Does law enforcement need probable cause to track or locate a cell phone?  This could work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA

president@piava.org

D.C. Area Law Enforcement–New Tools

The Virginia Coalition for Open Government, VCOG, VCOG, pointed out today that the Fairfax County police on Wednesday rolled out 50 portable face- and fingerprint-scanning devices they say will allow officers to identify anyone with a criminal record in the region.  See whole story:Examiner

In addition, VCOG reports that another development for D.C. area law enforcement is a computer system that will allow more than 60 state and local police agencies in the D.C. area to share mug shots and crime reports.  See whole story: Washington Post

I wonder if any of these records will be available with a FOIA request?

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Virginia Identity Theft

Virginia’s Attorney General Bob McDonnel has a good outline and FAQ on identity theft issues in Virginia. 

From the AG’s site:

In Virginia, identity theft is a serious crime.  Currently, an identity thief whose crime results in financial loss up to $200 faces a misdemeanor conviction and confinement for not more than 12 months and/or a maximum fine of $2,500.  An identity thief whose crime results in financial loss greater than $200, faces a felony conviction and a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years.  For more details, please refer to §18.2-186.3 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. 

 See the whole site: VA Attorney General ID Theft

The Fairfax County, VA, Police have further information too, Fairfax Police

Also, check The Consumer Law Group, Richmond, VA, at  Consumer Law Group

The Washington Post has an excellent section on its website about identity theft and ways to protect your identity and personal information.  See Washington Post ID Theft 

Meanwhile, hold tight to your personal information.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Federal Trade Commission–Identity Theft Study

FTC Releases Survey of Identity Theft in the U.S. Study Shows 8.3 Million Victims in 2005

The Federal Trade Commission today released a survey showing that 8.3 million American adults, or 3.7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. Of the victims, 3.2 million, or 1.4 percent of all adults, experienced misuse of their existing credit card accounts; 3.3 million, or 1.5 percent, experienced misuse of non-credit card accounts; and 1.8 million victims, or 0.8 percent, found that new accounts were opened or other frauds were committed using their personal identifying information.

See full text of news release and download a copy of the report:

FTC ID Theft

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Wired Wednesday

Wired — meaning wary, watchful, wide-awake.   

Hey, wired is the descriptive term for today’s mishmash of posts.

First:

Business mileage rates

IRS released the new 2008 optional standard mileage rates for business, charitable, medical/moving purposes.   yesterday announced (Rev, Proc. 2007-70, (attached). 

Rates are: 

50.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (compared to 48.5 cents per mile in 2007)
19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes (20 cents in 2007)
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (unchanged from 2007)

Our favorite–Pellicano, PI to the Hollywood Stars

LA Times reports that a federal judge agreed to hold a hearing to explore defense allegations of government misconduct in the wiretapping prosecution of LA private investigator to the stars, Anthony Pellicano.  Pellicano’s attorneys argued that the federal prosecutors and the FBI violated Pellicano’s constitution rights by using his ex-girlfriend to get confidential information from him while in prison without his attorney’s knowledge.  See whole story Pellicano Story (may require registration).

Federal Prosecutors Subpoena to Amazon–Then Step Back

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Post Amazon, reports that a federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena that asked Amazon.com to identify thousands of used book buyers.  Recently court records were unsealed revealing this story.  It seems that last year federal prosecutors, as part of a grand jury investigation, issued the subpoena to Amazon as part of an investigation of a seller of used books on Amazon.  The seller is Robert D’Angelo.  He was indicted on fraud, money laundering and tax evasion charges.

As part of the investigation prosecutors wanted Amazon to turn over identities of thousands of used book buyers.  Well, the federal judge said ruled that such customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits private from the government.  “The chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost the keyboards across America” wrote US Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker in a June ruling.  “Well founded or not, rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon’s customers would frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases.”

The subpoena sought records of 24,000 transactions dating from 1999.  The US Attorney said he doubted the ruling would hamper legitimate investigations.  Is he saying that the original investigations were illegitimate???

Oh, well, more to come later today. Keep “askin” questions out there.

Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
president@piava.org

U-VA Students Snatch Guy–Use Victim’s Cell to Demand Ransom–Doh!

The Washington Post, Washington Post, reported today that an unusual kidnapping occurred not far from my location.  Two University of Virginia students snatched a man off a street corner in the Tysons Corner area in McLean, VA, took him to a Falls Church, VA motel, tied him up, put him in the bathroom and, then, demanded a $500,000 ransom.  Now, the two “Einsteins,” second year engineering students at U-VA, used the victim’s cell phone to call in the ransom!  Well, surprise, surprise, the police and the FBI were able to pinpoint the motel’s location after AT&T provided an approximate location in Falls Church as the origin of the calls. 

The Fairfax Police and the FBI staked out the motel and spotted two men going in and out of a room there. When an officer and an FBI agent knocked on the door, they were allowed into the room and found the victim bound and gagged with duct tape in the bathtub.  See whole story here: Article  

Now it is clear to me that the two U-VA students have not been reading the newspapers lately or watching CSI-Miami or the Crime Channel Discovery Channel.  Had the two “Einsteins” read a recent article in the Washington Post, Article they would know that “Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.”  There, there, those U-VA students should have known better than use the victim’s cell phone to call in the ransom.  Shame on our educational system.

Constitutional Issues? 

Cell Phone Tracking 

So, a real constitutional question has arisen as to whether the government has to have a court authorized search warrant to do the cell phone tracking.  According to the story above, some judges are issuing warrants and others refuse to do so.   Oh, I better save this topic for another post.

IRS Collect Internet Personal Data 

An additional future post may be about the proposal in the president’s 2008 budget that would require Internet businesses like eBay and Amazon.com to collect personal data on their customers and share it with the Internal Revenue Service. 

The move is part of an effort by the U.S. Treasury Department to track down unreported small business income generated by the sale of personal property on such sites. Under the proposal, online “brokers” would be required to file income statements for all customers who use their sites to conduct 100 or more separate transactions that generate US$5,000 or more per year.  Oh brother, help me, see IRS.  I will take this up another time.

Until then, keep “askin” questions,

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Some State Court Records are Online

 Court Records Going Online

The International Falls Daily Journal reports that the Minnesota Judicial Branch’s Web site at Minnesota Judicial allows viewers to search criminal, civil, family and probate cases, as well as check court calendars.  For full story see Daily Journal.   As we all know and as a court clerk stated in the story that “the Web accessible information should not take the place of regular criminal history checks for some purposes.”  “We can’t guarantee 100 percent that this will give up all of anyone’s criminal history,” she said.

Texas

The American Statesman reports that Travis County, TX, leads the state in having fully electronic records.  Travis County recently filed, electronically, its 20,000th court case and scanned and stored its millionth page and collected its millionth dollar in electronic filing fees.  See full story Statesman.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Misty Monday’s Miscellaneous Information

It is a misty Monday in the Northern Virginia area with slight rain drizzling down. 

So, we are posting various points of information from various record sources. 

Bad E-Mail 

One of PIAVA’s members, Ron McKown of Eidolon Group, Merrifield, VA, advised us of reports that a new malware is spreading via e-mail.  The e-mail claims to be from a private investigator saying that a private investigator has been recording the recipients telephone conversations.  An audio file is attached.  Of course, if the recipient opens the audio file the computer is immediately infected.   The subject of such “phony” e-mails may include “I am monitoring you,” “you are being watched,” etc.  Do not open such an e-mail unless you know it is legitimate. 

Neat Sites 

Many private investigators are small to medium sized operations.  A new website focused on the technology needs of such businesses is at bMighty.  There is a lot of tech information there for small businesses.  Take a look.  One note on bmighty the information on how to go to Gethuman to bypass the boring customer and tech support recordings.  The site lists over 500 companies.

PC Magazine, PC Mag, has come out with its “Best and Worst” list for 2007 — Best Worst.  Hey, laptops, desktops, mobile phones–all that stuff, the worst and “worser”.  In an earlier issue, PC Mag gave out the Top 100 Classic Websites — Classic and the Top 100 Undiscovered Websites — Undiscovered.

 Public Records

A good site to check corporate registrations is Registered Agents.  Further a good organized site for finding public record sites is Public Records.

Question for Readers

Many of PIAVA members have excellent private investigation firms.  Would readers of this blog find it convenient we listed the PIAVA member’s company?  Let me know either by e-mail or comment.

Meanwhile, so long for today and keep “askin” questions.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president at piava dot org

Tech Notes–Master the Internet, Search Some Stuff

Great searches:

Want to search Yahoo and Google at the same time?  Twingine

Metasearch sites:  Clusty, Teoma, Dogpile

Need certain audio?  Findsounds

Want to see that old Internet Web page:  Archive

Newspapers, magazines and television stations worldwide:  Newsdirectory

Need to find that certain grave site:  Findagrave

Gotta find the embassies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe:  Embassy World

Hey, another day, another PIAVA resource

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Background Investigations–Cheap, Legal?

Background Investigations Cheap 

I wrote about national criminal background record checks a few posts back, and how there is no easy, single computer “national criminal records” check.  But what about general background investigations?  Is there an easy, single computer method to conduct a background investigation?  The answer is no!  There are many types of background investigations, some very sophisticated and costly, some very simple and cheap.  Today, many employers, parents and dating partners conduct a simple, essentially free, background investigation using search engines like Google and Yahoo.  These background checks are cheap and easy.  But, do they serve your purpose?  If you are “googling” a person, you are using information supplied by them.  Is this information accurate?  Are the results of your search accurate?  The higher level of trust you have in someone should govern the level of your background investigation.  Computer research for background investigations is a starting point only.  Information should be verified through third party sources.  Public records should be reserched and actual files reviewed.  If knowing about the background of a person is important to you, go to a professional investigator to have a background investigation done. 

Legal

There are legal aspects of doing a background investigation that everyone should know.  Some investigative techniques may violate federal or state laws.  We are not giving legal advice here, but consider how you get your information.  Several federal laws govern obtaining financial, consumer, computer or telephone records.  Various state laws may apply to other situations making some methods to gather information illegal.  Federal laws passed over the last few years make it a crime to use a pretext or false or deceptive methods to gather financial information, telephone records, collect debts and consumer information.  It is a federal offense to get someones telephone records from a telecommunications company by pretending to be someone else or use an fraudulent tactics—  “Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act.”  The “Gramm-Leach Bliley Act” prohibits the use of false or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from the customer—a felony folks.  The “Fair Credit Reporting Act” prohibits individuals from “knowingly and willfully” obtaining information about a “consumer” from a “consumer-reporting agency” under false pretenses.  The “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” prohibits debt collectors from obtaining consumer debt information or collecting or attempting to collect a debt using false or deceptive methods.  The “Computer Fraud and Abuse Act” prohibits someone from accessing a computer without authorization.  Virginia state laws also prohibit accessing computers, but I will save this for a later post.

So, if you do your own background investigations, keep in mind the legal aspects above.  Professional investigators should know the legalities of the information collection law. 

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president at piava.org

Tech Notes–Master the Internet

Most private investigators use state of the art technology in their business operations–from fast computers to digital audio and video equipment.  Communications with clients is probably the most important customer service aspects of a business whether it is investigations or selling widgets.  E-mail and the Internet, together, can instantaneously make available to your client written reports, photographs, video and large document files.  You can e-mail your client and attach your report as Word document or PDF file.  PDF is preferred because of document security.  But, what about the 50 MB of digital photographs that are important to your client?  E-mail often limits the size of attachments.  Google limits attachments to 20 MB, but that is generous compared to other e-mail systems.  

There are several Internet sites that allow you to upload large files that can be accessed and downloaded by your client.  If you need to send a client a large file or document as an attachment to e-mail, here are some tools.  Yousendit.com is a site that allows you upload large files, notifies the client the files are there and allows the client to download the file.  You Send It is really a neat tool.  Other sites are also available— sendthisfile.com and dropsend.com.  Take a look at box.net too.

In other news, Google announced a new search engine a couple of months ago–try it at searchmash flash.  It is different and has a lot of features.  Also, for our good health after TG, check out pdrhealth for health care information, drug and supplement information and other health related issues. The site is run by the same people who publish the Physician Desk Reference.

 Until another day, keep “askin” questions,

 Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Phony Professionals

Yesterday I wrote about the fallacy of the “national criminal background check.”  Today, I am reminded of the importance of an investigation speciality–the background investigation.  Two recent news items caught my attention, and I knew I had a topic for today’s “nooziness” (meaning news worthy–new word with help of Cobert– Colbert) post.  Two articles appeared today in the news media about two individuals who were charged with impersonating a lawyer and unlicensed practice of law.  In other words, these individual held themselves out to be licensed attorneys, gained the confidence of “clients,” received money and all the time neither was licensed to practice law in their jurisdiction.  Some of the supposedly clients were fairly sophisticated business people, but they did not check their “lawyers” background to determine if he was licensed to practice law in that jurisdiction. 

Of course, those stories reminded me of the importance of background investigations when you hire someone whether it is a professional like a doctor or lawyer or the person that knocks on your door wanting to trim your trees or cut your lawn or remodel your house.  Before you give your money to people for a job or investment, you should check their credentials.  In today’s Internet world there are on-line sources to do a quick license verification on an individual. 

Most people can conduct this type of background investigation on their own adding to it a Google search, Google, Better Business Bureau check, BBB, or local jurisdiction consumer complaint agency, Fairfax County plus much more.  For example, the “clients” of the alleged attorneys could easily check to determine if the attorney is licensed by going to the State Bar Association web site and searching the name in the licensed attorney list.  If an attorney is practicing in a jurisdiction, they must belong to the State Bar Association.  The American Bar Association has a complete list of the state bar associations– see State Bar Associations.  From there you can click on the state bar association and see if a person is licensed in that state.  To check on a doctor, you can go to Doc Finder or the American Medical Association’s Doctor Finder site– AMA.

There is so much more the conducting proper background investigations that I could write a book for “dummies.”  But, if you have an important transaction, business or personal, and you need a thorough background investigation, you should consider hiring a private investigator.  Of course, check on the private investigator’s license in you jurisdiction first. 

In future posts  I will reveal more background investigation techniques and resources. 

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

National Criminal Background Check–Doh!

Private investigators and other security companies are often asked to conduct a national criminal records search.  The research may be associated with an employment matter, a background investigation or a litigation matter.  A few posts back, I mentioned that there is not, in reality, a computerized national criminal records search available to private industry.  Neither private investigators, database companies nor information brokers have the ability to do a national criminal records check via a single computer search.  There a many advertisements, especially on the Internet, and claims by database companies and information brokers that they can conduct a national criminal history check, and they will do so for a low price–say $29.95.  Well, if you are buying such information you should know what you are getting in return.  Most people or companies asking for a national criminal background check do not realize what information they are getting with this ”national criminal background check” or they want to say “We had a national criminal background check done, and it only costs us $29.95.” 

Now, as wordy as I am, I could write a book on this subject matter.  But, I want to shorten things a bit and point you in the direction of previously written, excellent articles/sources about the fallacy of some advertised “national criminal background checks.”   Jackie Walters, a temporary technical services librarian at Wiley Rein LLP, wrote an excellent article on the “Myths, Realities & Resources” of national criminal background checks.  Jackie points out what all professional investigators know–there is no central repository for national criminal records; not all states report crimes; and there is no standard for collecting criminal records.  She also points out there are four types of criminal records–arrest, criminal court (federal, state & local) corrections (jails & prisons) and state criminal repository records.  Jackie’s article brings reality to criminal records research.  Jackie’s article was published in the Law Librarian’s Society of Washington, DC, www.llsdc.org, publication–Law Library Lights, Vol. 50, no. 3, Spring 2007, Research Special Areas, p. 14.  Read the entire article for a real education, http://tinyurl.com/292voy.   

For PIAVA members the article will be uploaded to www.piava.org, members only page.  I will let you know details later.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

  

Access to Court Records

The Ohio Supreme Court announced on November 16, 2007, that it is accepting comments on several proposed amendments to the Court Rules addressing access to court records. (see http://tinyurl.com/2jto8j).  This is the first time the Ohio Supreme Court has considered public access to court records.  The rules proposes that court records are presumed open unless otherwise exempt or confidential by state law.  The rules would let the court allow limited access to records (seal the record); create a process to unseal a record–part or all of the record; and partial redaction or omission of personal information in the records.   

Ohio is not the first state to consider and draft rules to limit access to public court records.  In 2006 the Virginia Supreme Court’s Committee on Access to Court Records issued a draft report to revise court rules to provide  a balance between public access to Virginia court records and the privacy needs of some information in the records.  The Virginia Supreme Court committee proposed that certain personal data be redacted in all court filings, and that parties could seal records.  Personal information to be redacted would be (1) social security numbers, drivers license or military personnel numbers–include only last four digits if needed; (2) information regarding minor children; (3) dates of birth–only year included; and (4) financial information–only last four numbers of accounts.  Of course, some court records are already held confidential under numerous Virginia code sections–grand jury proceedings, juvenile records etc. 

To its credit, however, the Virginia Supreme Court committee emphasized that public access to court records is important in ensuring the integrity of the judicial process.  The committee pointed out that there are many court opinions (State and Federal) recognizing that public access to court records allows the public to monitor the conduct of judicial proceedings, providing an effective restraint on the possible abuse of judicial power.  The US Supreme Court has recognized the rights of the public to have access to court proceedings which “allows the citizenry to monitor the functioning of our courts, thereby insuring quality, honesty, and respect for our legal system.” 

While the Virginia Supreme Court proposed rule amendments are in draft, all of us must monitor the restrictions that may be applied to public access to court records.  Private investigators often need to search court records in relation to an investigation.  As stated in a previous post, there must be a way to identify the person in the court record.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Hampton Road Property Transfers

The Daily Press, Daily Press, put up information about Hampton Roads property transfers.  “Wondering how much your neighbors sold their house for? Want to know if you’re paying a fair price for your new home? Welcome to the Daily Press’ property transfers database, the only place online where you can see exactly how much local real estate has sold for.”  This is a unique property search site.  You click on a map where you are interested in property sales.  The map tells you how many sales there were and then you can click on each sale to get the property information like seller, buyer, price etc.  See site below:

 Property

 Keep askin questions,

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Hip (meaning “cool,” “contemporary”) New Additions to Blog

If you look to the left side, you will see our “blog roll” and our “links.”  I’ve separated blog links from regular links, and I added several new links.  New links are for the Washington Post, Washington Post, the Federal Court Pacer System, Pacer, Maryland Land Records, MD Land, Richmond Sunlight, Richmond Sunlight, everything you want to know about the VA General Assembly, Society of Former FBI Agents, SOCXFBI, Pagebull Search Engine, Page Bull, and the US Department of Justice’s FOIA guide, US DOJ FOIA, offering everthing you want to know about the FOIA from DOJ’s perspective.  Also, check the FOIA Blog at The FOIA Blog.

A new page has been added—PI Jobs.  Here we have posted two listings of companies seeking registered Private Investigators for surveillance and other work in DC, MD & VA.  Check it out.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org