P-Trak info/re-posted for legibility

[Lewis Lorton <llorton@hostnet.org>]

  (this material is reposted for your info from LEXIS-NEXIS Web site at
  http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/about/ptrak.html
  
  
  
  
  LEXIS-NEXIS markets the P-TRAK file to the legal community for use by general 
  legal practitioners, litigators and public attorneys, as well as law enforcement 
  agencies and police departments. These professionals use the P-TRAK file to 
  assist in
  locating litigants, witnesses, shareholders, debtors, heirs and beneficiaries. 
  
  It's important to note that LEXIS®-NEXIS® is a business-to-business service and 
  is not a consumer online service. The LEXIS-NEXIS service is targeted to and 
  used by attorneys, businesses and government agencies. 
  
  LEXIS-NEXIS is aware of the sensitivities regarding the potential misuse of 
  information. While business competitors of LEXIS-NEXIS have for some time made 
  Social Security numbers available to users of their services, and continue to do 
  so,
  LEXIS-NEXIS discontinued the display of Social Security numbers in the P-TRAK 
  file as of June 11, 1996, eleven days after the product was introduced. 
  
  
  There has been much erroneous information distributed on the Internet regarding 
  the data displayed in the P-TRAK file. The displayed record may, but not always, 
  include the name of the individual, the individual's maiden and assumed names, 
  current
  as well as up to two previous addresses, month and year of birth and telephone 
  number. That is the only information displayed in the P-TRAK file. 
  
  Contrary to some messages that have been posted to some Internet discussion and 
  news groups, the P-TRAK file does not contain any credit histories, bank account 
  information or other personal financial data, or medical histories. 
  
  The information displayed in the P-TRAK file is an aggregation readily available 
  from public information sources such as telephone directories (in print and CD-
  ROM format) and public records maintained by government agencies. 
  
  Through its actions, LEXIS-NEXIS is balancing the privacy concerns of the public 
  with the legitimate needs of legal, business and government professionals for 
  access to accurate sources of publicly available information. By discontinuing 
  the display of
  Social Security numbers in P-TRAK and only providing information that is already 
  available to the public from other sources, LEXIS-NEXIS believes it has 
  
  responsibly met the expressed concerns of the public.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  --
  Lewis Lorton, Executive Director
  Healthcare Open Systems and Trials
  tel 410-715-1181
  fax 410-992-7060