# ? about legality of State selling personal info

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 24, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277 "2011-12-24T13:33:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/1 "2011-12-24T13:33:01Z")

</div>

About a year ago I applied to the state gov’t. for a business license. It seems that the state has sold or given away my information to sites like “Manta,”“yahoo,” “Yellobot,” you get the idea. This seems to be a tad less then legal. My question is 2 part:  
1; is it illegal ? if so  
2; what can be done?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/2 "2011-12-24T13:40:57Z")

</div>

Business licenses are a public record. There is no expectation of privacy for a business license. Anyone can request a copy of your business license, and the state is required to provide it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/3 "2011-12-24T16:32:43Z")

</div>

Thank you for that “Fear Itself,” or may I call you “Fear,” anyway I can see that your correct, guess I should have realized that myself. Anyway thank you again for your perspective and Happy Holiday.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/4 "2011-12-24T18:29:33Z")

</div>

> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> Business licenses are a public record. There is no expectation of privacy for a business license. Anyone can request a copy of your business license, and the state is required to provide it.

Here in my hood, we can actually go to the hall of records and for a small fee they will drop you a CSV file of all business licence filings for up to the last year onto a CD.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/5 "2011-12-25T01:13:39Z")

</div>

Is there a way to have my info, i.e. name address and telephone number removed from the internet?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-legality-of-state-selling-personal-info/607277/6 "2011-12-25T02:05:01Z")

</div>

> [@NadaHappyCamper](#):
>
> Is there a way to have my info, i.e. name address and telephone number removed from the internet?

[You can try this](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/violetblue/how-to-remove-yourself-from-people-search-websites/612) but the real answer is , … no. 😃