The Mechanics of a People Search

There are thousands of search queries on the internet every day that are fueled by the intent to gain the personal information of other people. Some searchers just want to be able to find people by name, while others want to know details about the individual because they are in fear of their own safety. And yet, there is also a small percentage of people that seek out other people’s personal information for sinister reasons. 

Regardless of the reason for the search, personal information is readily available on the internet for most people if you know where to look for it.

Public Information

Whenever you do any transaction with the government, the information you provide in the transaction could be considered public information. For example, when you buy a home or purchase any other kind of real estate, every transaction that happens in each step of the process is recorded and kept as a record so that there will always be a clear path of purchase for every buyer down the road. As part of the transaction, information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and the amount of money spent in each step are collected and recorded. If a citizen or a public official has any questions regarding the sale of the property in the future, all they have to do is dig into the public records of the transaction, and they will be able to access all of the information that is there.

The reason why public information exists in the first place is so that all of the transactions that happen between citizens and the government remain transparent and visible. Although virtually any record could be considered public record, depending on the circumstances, some of the most common public records are:

• Court records
• Property records
• Criminal records
• Arrest records

In the event of court cases, it is important for the public to be able to monitor and examine the practices of the court of law. Otherwise, the system could become an inescapable danger for people that have been wrongly accused of crimes.

The whole concept behind government transactions being available to the public is to keep the government as honest and accountable as it possible.

Public Information Databases

Now that we have established a clear view of what public information is, we can discuss what happens to it and how it can be shared between parties.

It used to be, many years ago, whenever somebody was looking for public records, they had to go down to the county recorder’s office and officially request the information. There was always a fee and a substantial waiting period. 

Thanks to ever-evolving technology and the world wide web, there are countless agencies that collect and store public records from all over the country so that they can be accessed simply by going online and performing a search.

Many of the companies that own these databases develop websites that block access from Google or other search engines and have tightly restricted admin areas that only paying members can have access to. In doing this, they block personal information from being visible in the search results and can charge a fee to people that wish to have access to the records.

People By Name Searches

Long gone are the days when the telephone company would deliver a phone book with all of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the people who lived within its community. The “white pages” of the phone book held residential information of the people that lived within the area that the phone book covered. The “yellow pages” had the business listings for the companies that paid to have their ads listed. In those days, all one had to do in order to find a person’s address and phone number is look them up in the white pages. Unless, of course, they paid the extra fee to keep their information private.

In a telephone book, names were printed on the white pages alphabetically by last name. In order to find people by name, all you had to do is look up their last name alphabetically and filter out the people that were not the ones you were looking for.

Today, if you go to your favorite search engine and type in the name of a person, there is a possibility that you will find information on them. There are a number of websites that post general information about people including names, phone numbers, and addresses. These websites allow their landing pages to be indexed in search engines.

Doing a Google search for a person will pull up any data that is available on the internet that is not protected. In most cases, the information that you find in this manner is old, outdated, and inaccurate. However, a fair amount of search engine-derived information is valid and correct.

The companies such as the ones that we mentioned above that collect public information and store it on their sites privately, allow for people to type in names in their site-wide search boxes and find detailed information about specific people. These companies have access to public data that is from as far back as the records will allow. This means that you can find every address and phone number that a person has ever had within a search.

Database Searches

A database is a segment of code that works with other segments of code to collect and store data securely within the constraints of a data table. In most cases, the data on the user end can look much like a spreadsheet with rows and columns. On the server-side of the data, however, the information is stored in a file that in a Notepad document looks like a bunch of intangible numbers, letters, and characters that do not make sense to the human eye.

A well-constructed database will allow for a user to submit a word or series of words in a search box on a web page that pulls matching data from the script. Another block of code from another file will form it into a usable platform that a person can read and understand then present it as a result on the web page.

When you search a large database for the first and last name of a person, for example, the code commands that all instances that have the words that your search had in it be brought to the surface in a tangible, organized format. 

Databases can be developed in a way that pulls data from other databases automatically so that the available information stays fresh and updated. Sometimes the old data that is on the database is overwritten and discarded. Other times, new data is stored, and the old data remains. When you search in a database for records that go back numerous years, the old data will still be available.

Performing a Search

Whenever you perform a search that contains a first and last name only, you can end up with a ton of data that has nothing to do with the person that you are looking for. This is why it is important to have as much information about the individual as possible. If you do a search for a person named John Johnson, you will more than likely find millions of people with that name and variants of that name.

A well-developed website will have robust search capability that allows for filters and other aids that will allow you to narrow your search results down to the exact person that you are looking for. By knowing the city and state of the person, you can narrow your results down. However, if you know the area, the different names of the person, including the middle name, the age, and other details, you can easily find the information that is available for the exact person that you are inquiring about.

Different websites will have different methods of inquiry for people. Some will lead you through a series of questions, while others, such as government websites, will have a search console with multiple options for the mechanics of the search.

Finding People By Name

There are millions of reasons why somebody would be searching for a person in particular: a long-lost friend, a family member, an old lover. Technology has made it easier than ever to reconnect with old relationships. If you are looking for somebody that you thought was gone for good, why wait any longer? Get out there and find them. Life is short.