FTC: Consumer Privacy Comments Concerning Tamara Thompson Investigations--P974806 TAMARA Secretary, Federal Trade Commission RE:Support of Self Regulation Dear Mr. Secretary: I'm writing in response to the Commission request for additional comments following the hearing held June 10, 1997. I, as a licensed private investigator, am a regular user of public and non-public records (such as credit headers), and support the proposition of self regulation. I rely on the right to make legitimate use of social security numbers to locate witnesses in criminal and civil matters, to locate heirs, and to verify background information related to pre- employment screening. The vehicle of social security numbers is vital to the performance of this work. Further regulation would create additional barriers to us saving lives, preventing fraud and bringing families together. It would be very unwise to allow the targets of our investigations to browse around in our inquiries and data, or opt out of the databases that are private and public. The integrity and reliability of our work would be seriously compromised if individuals were able to decide if they were included in these sources. Privacy protection can be managed through our industries' self regulation of uses and distribution. Our industry has a stated willingness and interest in self regulation. This industry welcomes the government's help in enforcing the regulations. I ask that you support self regulation and work with the industry to successfully bring about policies and procedures that we can all live with in a free society. Sincerely, Tamara ThompsonTamara Thompson 4432 Telegraph Avenue. No. 30. Oakland. CA 94609 TEL 510.420.8904 FAX 510.420.8905 License # PI 13864 |