Following the September 11 attacks, employers in all industries---especially Fortune 100 firms---have become increasingly concerned with who works for them. The resulting boom in background checks has been made economically and logistically feasible by the online posting of nationwide databases compiling such information as former and current addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, marriages and divorces, professional licenses, real estate holdings, and financial and criminal records. Many feel that these public access and private fee-based records are a morally and legally questionable invasion of privacy, and will only make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to engage in identity theft.
See "Posthiring background checks mushroom", LISA GUERNSEY, Chicago Tribune, November 25, 2001