Many news articles report there are now more than 1,000,000,000,000 documents on the World Wide Web, and that this vast collection of Web URLs grows by as much as one billion pages a day.
Although a lot of content is lost when Webhosting services fail or go out of business (like when blogging service Vox closed down a few years ago), the growth trend for online data storage is only upward. And that data is being monetized at an incredible rate every year.
Search engineers feel there are trillions more undiscovered Web pages buried in restricted sites known as the Deep Web or the Hidden Web. These hidden document collections use custom, on site search tools to help users browse their information; and those archives are often found behind paid subscriptions. Subscription databases use proprietary search tools that make it impossible for search engines to mine the deep, dark content found in the unindexed Web.
Bridging the gap between these Web universes, which exist side-by-side, hover the almost exclusive half-secret public information archives. Most often known as public records, these semi-public storehouses may have limited search offerings but they have also been made more accessible by innovative public records search resources. According to Websites like the RBG Public Information Archive and the Background Records Blog there are a plethora of online public records databases.
These background records resources are built from data feeds provided by local, state, and federal public records databases. Some "public records" resources may also come from for-proft databases that may include business guides and directories, class or school reunion sites, etc. By the same token any archive for resumes also provides some kind of people records management. And yet, most bloggers associate the phrase "public records" only with government records.
When you need to sift through public data to find out about anyone who contacts you, perhaps to do a quick background review, your time may be short or perhaps you don't have the skill to search through that much data. One can see why the background information search industry takes its place in big business.
A few observers estimate people search sales in the billions of dollars. Reviewing these huge collections of public records is a daunting task far beyond the capabilities of most of us. Typical Web search barely scratches the surface of the online data sphere.