School of Information

In this paper, I outline the legislative framework governing information privacy practices in the public and private sectors in the United States and, more narrowly, the state of California, with particular attention paid to criminal justice system information. I will explore the relationship between the courts, which maintain public criminal records, and Corporate Data Brokers (CDBs), which aggregate and sell information from court records, as well as the accuracy and privacy of their systems. While legislation guiding the government's handling of information may need to be extended to the private sector, state governments have a role to play in improving their technology infrastructure to ensure that accurate, timely information is available in the public records. This is particularly important for the criminal justice system, the source of data brokers collecting. In making this argument, I look at one state, Colorado, that did a great deal early on to improve their criminal records technology infrastructure.