<P> There are many degrees of accessibility to public records between states, with some making it fairly easy to request and receive documents, and others with many exemptions and restricted categories of documents . One state that is fairly responsive to public records requests is New York, which utilizes the Committee on Open Government to assist citizens with their requests . A state that is fairly restrictive in how they respond to public records requests is Pennsylvania, where the law currently presumes that all documents are exempt from disclosure, unless they can be proven otherwise . The California Public Records Act (California Government Code § § 6250 - 6276.48) covers the arrest and booking records of inmates in the State of California jails and prisons, which are not covered by First Amendment rights (freedom of speech and of the press). Public access to arrest and booking records is seen as a critical safeguard of liberty . </P> <P> With the advent of the Internet and the information age, access to public records in the United States to anyone who wishes to view them has dramatically increased . Third parties such as the information broker industry make regular use of public records to compile readily accessible profiles on millions of people, and may make a profit from the service of recompiling and mining the data . </P> <P> Public record data is used for multiple purposes, such as ensuring that child support payments are made as determined by the courts, assisting credit bureaus in keeping accurate data and helping to pay pension benefits to retirees . </P> <P> Individual criminal histories are generally considered to be public records in the United States and are often accessed via criminal history background checks, but "access and use of FBI - maintained criminal history record information has been traditionally limited and controlled in large measure to protect the privacy of the individuals to whom the records pertain ." The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes "fair information - practice requirements by consumer reporting agencies that report public record information, such as criminal history records, for employment purposes," and some state consumer - protection laws impose more restrictive regulations . </P>

Where do you go to get public records