What are public records?

Public records refer to information that has been filed or documented by public agencies, such as corporate and property records. Public records are created by the government (vital records, real estate records, driving records, criminal records, etc.) or by the person (magazine subscriptions, voter registration, etc.). Most public records are maintained by the government and many are accessible to the public either free-of-charge or for an administrative fee. Availability is determined by federal, state, and local guidelines.

Public records are held in physical files. Many public records are available via world wide web or other sources; even though public records are actually "public", their accessibility is not always simple or easy. Some states such as California have separate policies that govern the availability of information contained in public records. The PRA or public records act states that "except for certain explicit exceptions, personal information maintained about an person may not be disclosed without the person's consent."

Most businesses of this nature specialize in something particular, yet a few attempt to offer all sorts of available records to professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. Certain unscrupulous businesses, who sell software with a promise of unlimited access to public records, generally provide nothing more than just basic information on how to access already available and free public sites.