Engaging a Private Investigator

The Law
California Private Investigator Act
Bureau of Security and Investigative Services
http://www.dca.ca.gov/bsis/piact.htm

Fair Credit Reporting Act - 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.
Anyone accessing credit history files must have a permissible purpose.
http://ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcradoc.pdf

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act - 15 U.S.C. §§ 6821-27
Allows for the assessment of civil and criminal penalties in cases where a pretext is knowingly or intentionally used which violates the law (Such as obtaining personal financial data without authorization). The statute contains certain exceptions, including for state-licensed private investigators to the extent that their activities were (1) "reasonably necessary to collect child support from a person adjudged to be delinquent ... by a Federal or State court," and (2) were authorized by court order.
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/glbact/glbsub1.htm

Audio and Video Recording
Tape recording laws at a glance
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/quick.html

Ethics
Rules of Professional Conduct
State Bar of California
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10158&id=3422

Resources for Attorneys

Find an Investigator
National Council of Investigation and Security Services
http://www.nciss.org/Membership/Locate_A_Member.htm
           
Find a Process Server
National Association of Process Servers
http://www.napps.com/

Find a Records Retriever
Public Record Retriever Network
http://www.brbpub.com/prrn/

Research an Expert
JurisPro
http://www.jurispro.com/

Information Gathering

Find a government public records site
Search Systems
http://searchsystems.net

Find the right search engine for your needs
Searchability
http://www.searchability.com/

Find answers to your questions
GoogleAnswers
http://answers.google.com/answers/

Track a website activity
WatchThatPage
http://www.watchthatpage.com/