Privacy is dead: Online criminal record checks in seconds

Privacy is dead – but I’m not sure: Do we have a ‘right’ to privacy, or is it just something we would quite like? Is privacy really an ethically valid demand? One thing’s for sure – people are soon going to flock to using a new criminal records check website to dig through information on every enemy, co-worker, lover and family member they can.

…Missourians can administer criminal background checks on anyone in the state in just a matter of seconds, courtesy of a new State Highway Patrol website. Previously, such background checks were limited to snail-mail requests, which took up to four weeks [...] Evidently, the Highway Patrol has recently discovered the magic of the Internets.”
- From here: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/02/highway_patrol_criminal_backgr.php

The old snail mail version probably ensured that very few people ever used the service. But now, vague flights of fancy can be answered with hard, factual and gritty knowledge, produced immediately. How exciting for everyone in Missouri except people with criminal records!