THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200579
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DAYTON, OHIO LENGTH: 26 lines
Thousands of callers jammed phone lines at Lexis-Nexis this week demanding to be removed from a database that allowed Internet users to obtain members' Social Security numbers, credit histories and other personal information.
Furious e-mail messages on the Internet this week claim that anyone can use a Lexis-Nexis computer file to obtain names, addresses, telephone numbers and other information, the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal reported today.
Lexis-Nexis issued a statement Wednesday saying the information in question is ``readily available from public information sources such as telephone directories . . . and public records maintained by government agencies.''
The outcry stems from a Lexis computer file called P-TRAK, which provides personal information for the legal community to use when trying to track down litigants.
Subscribers can get the information by dialing into the database with a modem, the same way users gain entry to Lexis-Nexis' well-known library of periodicals and court documents. by CNB