Tiny,
While I am very familiar with the changes to the California ICRAA in the employment context, I do not believe that there have been any changes to this law permitting Joe Nobody to see whether his neighbor is a practicing wife batterer.
Specifically, the ICRAA permits a disclosure of consumer credit information only:
- in response to a court order
- in accordance with the written instructions of the consumer to which it relates
- to a person who will use it for employment purposes
- in connection with a credit transaction
- insurance underwriting
- license eligibility
- the "hiring of a dwelling unit"
- otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction involving the consumer. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code s 1785.11.
Accordingly, all credit disclosures approved by the state statute must be related to business.
A similar requirement exists under federal law. And to my knowledge, neither of these laws permit a private citizen to conduct a criminal records check from a company without meeting those above purposes.
Crafty, are you trying to do this for business purposes or are you just wondering if you can, say, check out your neighbor's criminal history?
Tiny, unless it is for business purposes (enumerated in 1785.11 or the equivalent federal section), I think Crafty may (legally) be out of luck.
Jeff
