Interesting article, thanks for posting. Doesn't surprise me though that these -- well, I guess we can't call them scammers because you do get your renewals, at triple the price -- continue to press for access to the database. I happen to work for a state court and courts get similar requests or demands for marketing purposes all the time. Real estate agents want names and addresses of divorce parties so they can market their services when parties have to liquidate the house. Investment and financial brokers and counselors want the names and addresses of family members or executors filing probate cases so they can market to the bereaved families. Moving and shipping and storage companies want the names and addresses in probate cases so they can offer to move, pack and store grandma's stuff. J.G. Wentworth style businesses want lawsuit settlement data so they can market cash-now payouts for fractions on the dollar for multi-year settlements. Harvesting data on families in distress for marketing purposes has always felt awfully mercenary to me, but at least those other business don't try to be deceitful or slippery about their true identities, and maybe they are helpful, I guess. The third party doc services though have always seemed the most ethically questionable to me by far because of the way they try to disguise themselves.
