The amateur detective
Depending on what you're looking for, the kind of information available online can be broken down in a variety of ways. Here's how this case developed, with links to some basic resources.
Searching the Net can be anything but elementary. But never fear: You can put some method in the madness. Here are the steps that our stealthy reporter followed and some links that could help jump-start a search of your own.
Getting tipped off
Pages that provide useful links and instruction on
how to be a cybersleuth.
The Stalker's Home Page: provides a wealth of tips and links to find and protect private information | |
The Private Investigators Mall: an excellent starting point. It provides several links to PI home pages, referrals to investigators, tips on conducting searches, and a list of links | |
Finding People on the Internet | |
Sherlock@--The Internet Consulting Detective: a storehouse of tips and links | |
The Internet Sleuth | |
CNET's SEARCH.COM | |
Yahoo's list of online investigators |
Yahoo or Excite: if the person is a Net user | |
Yahoo's people search | |
InfoSpace | |
DejaNews: a fully searchable archive of bulletin boards | |
Switchboard: a popular nationwide telephone directory | |
Four11 White Pages: telephone and email directory. | |
Internet Address Finder |
Digging deeper
Sites that allow more specific, free searches.
Military City Online Web Outpost: to search out people in the armed services | |
Gopher links to university and other directories | |
ReuNet: The Reunion Network: billed as the original missing people's network, this site helps find long-lost family and friends | |
Ancestry Search: includes a free Social Security search of deceased Americans and other links | |
The Missing Persons Pages: search a database of missing persons or submit a report about a missing person |
1-800-U.S. SEARCH. | |
Nationwide Investigations | |
Pritchett Bureau of Investigation | |
The Integrity Center |
On the record
Sites that allow searches of record databases; a
combination of free and pay services
KnowX and the The American Information Network will do court public records searches for free; you have to pay for the information if it's found, but it's fairly cheap | |
Confi-chek is a brand-new site that says it will allow limited low-fee automated checks of records | |
CDB Infotek is one of the most popular Web databases used by investigators but requires membership | |
WESTLAW is another subscription-based service |
When all else fails
Sites that tell you where to write for information.
Where to write for vital records |