PublicBackgroundCheck
Many employers today are asking for background checks, here is how to perform a background check using publicly available data.
Why
The easiest reason to understand is that you own your information and you own the responsibility for the "Chain of Custody" of that information. Once your PII (Personally Identifiable Information) leaves your hands, you will never regain control of it. The more people/departments/vendors/corporations that have your information the less control you have over it. Starting over is possible, but not anywhere near as easy as maintaining control in the first place is.
To dig a little deeper, take a look at this list of data breaches. Are there any companies on that list that you have worked for? Done business with? Already has your PII? The chances are, that if you are an American consumer, that you recognize quite a few names on that list.
Test your prospective employer
Ask a simple question: "How do you maintain chain of custody for PII?" The most common response I receive is "What is PII?"
There is your answer. They can not be trusted. Now you have a choice of giving up your data to people that won't protect it or walking away from a new job.
The second response I get is "We use a 3rd party service and we never receive the information ourselves." This is better, but bad for two reasons.
#1 Most companies that deal in PII also sell your PII as part of their license agreement or are on the data breach list above. I'm sure you've heard of the Equifax breach, but did you know about HireRight... probably the most widely used "solution". here here here
#2. The 3rd party is making the decision and may not have all the facts or even have bad data. Several states list court cases by their associated crimes and you then have to dig down another level to find out if you were guilty or not guilty. Is your 3rd party digging down or just reporting based on "headlines"?
The Solution
If you will give up your PII for $$$, why wouldn't you give up your employer's data for $$$? Its a false test - if you really think about it, if you submit your PII for a background screening, then you are proving that you can't be trusted with secret data and you should be passed on for hiring.
Every state maintains a criminal case search or judiciary case search. The federal government maintains the Sex Offender Registry. These databases are publicly available and easily (enough) searchable. Here we will work on a tool to search that data, but between the beginning of this project and a useful delivery, we'll have a list of URLs that can be used to obtain this data from all 50 states plus the sex offender registery.
Point your prospective employer here to get them started down the right path.
The "But..."
There always has to be one and here is this one. One of you lucky people might share a name or an alias with a known bad actor. If that is the case, your name will be on the list as having commited some crime that would prevent you from being employed. It will be very hard for you to prove that you aren't the person that committed the crime or that you never lived in that state. Or maybe you commited a crime that prevents you from moving forward. At this time I don't know of a non-PII solution, but I'm all ears.
The legal side of things
IANAL or I Am Not A Lawyer: There are rules surrounding background checks and employment and discrimination. Those are outside the scope of this solution. Here's why: First, I'm not giving you advice, just a solution to a problem that I don't like to see. Second, This information is publicly avaiable and searchable already. There is nothing to stop employers from using this data and this is where background check companies get their data from in the first place -- the single source of truth -- the government.
If your record contains inaccurate data: Clear it. If your record contains data that is stale or "clean": Clear it.
You own the right to your data... right?