It may surprise no one that there are reams of information about them in a multitude of electronic databases maintained by large corporations and government agencies. But is restricting access to those records by the public doing anyone any real good?

Steve Rambam doesn't think so. At least not in all cases. The private investigator based in New York owns Pallorium Investigations. The company's PallTech online database service provides access to more than 600 different electronic databases to private investigators and law enforcement agencies around the world. Rambam addressed hackers on July 16 at the Hackers on Planet Earth 2000 (H2K) weekend-long conference at New York's Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Madison Square Garden. The conference--the third such event hosted by the publishers of 2600 Magazine, a quarterly publication on computer hacking published in Setauket, N.Y., since 1984--attracted roughly 2,300 people.

Restricting access to electronic databases, Rambam says, ensures only that average citizens cannot act as their own private investigator, by accessing information that may be essential, without first having to get a legal subpoena or hiring a private investigator. That can make it harder, he says, for people to obtain the information they need for legitimate purposes like collecting unpaid debts, or doing a basic background check on people they hire.

"The only people who are going to be affected by privacy regulations are honest people, who would benefit enormously by leaving the records open," he says.

There are many examples of cases where someone hired has turned out to have an arrest record. One state bar association, for instance, admitted a lawyer who had an arrest record in another state. Other cases involve school bus drivers, housekeepers, teachers, child-care providers and office workers.

"If you hire a nanny, you should have the right to check and see if she's ever been arrested, or pull her civil record to ensure that she's never been sued by a previous employer, "Rambam says.

Many states have restricted public access to motor vehicle records, voter registration information and property ownership files. In each case, the potehat if someone gave an orgy and no one showed? Well almost no one, except the FBI and the New York Police Department.

One of the unofficial events organized by a trio of attendees of the H2K conference, was an honest-to-goodness orgy for consenting adults.

The rationale was simple, says one organizer, TProphet, a 20-something hacker. Judging by the content of their conversations in the chat rooms of the Internet Relay Chat network, hackers can be a lonely bunch, TProphet says. The number one topic on many an IRC channel is the lack of a busy sex life, he says.

Fueled by heady late-night discussions on IRC, the H2KOrgy was born. A loft in lower Manhattan was rented for the weekend, commemorative T-shirts were printed and a Web site was created explaining the reasoning behind the event.

Three interested people actually showed up. So did the FBI and NYPD, who were concerned that minors might be involved or that some illegal activity might take place.

Eventually, something sexual involving four people did take place, TProphet says. No one was arrested, as no laws were broken. But he was out more than $1,600 in expenses, and he had little else to show for his efforts than a box full of commemorative T-shirts, which no one seemed eager to buy, and memories.