[CLUE-Talk] Government Information Awareness (GIA)

[Randy Arabie]

On Thursday, 10 July 2003 at  6:50:46 -0600, Sean LeBlanc <seanleblanc at americanisp.net> wrote:
> On 07-07 20:08, Randy Arabie wrote:
> > Ha! Is this the answer?
> > 
> > "Annoyed by the prospect of a massive new federal
> > surveillance system, two researchers at the Massachusetts
> > Institute of Technology are celebrating the Fourth of July
> > with a new Internet service that will let citizens create
> > dossiers on government officials," reports The Boston Globe.
> 
> That is a great idea. Along the same lines, I've always thought that
> prospective employees should be able to do background checks on those who
> run a company: CxOs, key VPs, board members. After all, it is a contract of
> sorts: why does the current system only allow for a one-sided background
> check?

Here is the MIT web site:

  http://opengov.media.mit.edu/

Regarding your question of the employee-employer
relationship.  I guess if you know some basic information
about the persons, like name and address you could pay for a
background check.  You couldn't get a credit check w/o
consent, but you could do a bacground check.  Of course, w/o
an SSN, I think a background check is somewhat limited.

The bottom line is, it seems the employer always has more
leverage.  You are free to present some consent forms to the
prospective employer and state that as part of the interview
process you, as a candidate, always conduct a background
check and credit check on certain key personnel at firms you
are considering.

In today's job market, I don't think you would get a very
favorable reaction.
-- 

Allons Rouler!

Randy
http://www.arabie.org/