MYTH BUSTER Brian McGuinness is on the case, lobbying for his industry, battling stereotypes and giving private investigators a good name BY LOANN HALDEN

WHEN MOST PEOPLE think of private investigators, they pluck their mental images from the Hollywood file: unsmiling men in trench coats lurking in shadows, willing to do whatever it takes to crack the case and seduce the leggy blonde client with the questionable past. This, of course, bears no resemblance to the truth.
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June 14, 2005 Private investigators are working to blunt legislation that cracks down on the active marketplace for Social Security numbers, telling Congress that restricting access to the numbers will hurt their business and hamper their investigations. Several bills are moving through the Capitol to prevent identity thieves from getting Social Security numbers to gain access to consumers' financial accounts. In the past year, the Social Security numbers of tens of millions of Americans have been exposed through personal data being lost, stolen or hacked.
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VANESSA MALTIN, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau DATE: June 16, 2004 Nearly 10 million people - 4.6 percent of the adult population - were victims of identity theft in 2002, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Trade Commission. Combined, these cases amount to nearly $48 billion in losses to businesses, nearly $5 billion in losses to individuals, and close to 300 million hours spent by victims clearing their names. Federal officials are also concerned that terrorists may use stolen identities to assimilate into society.
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Panel Stirs Privacy Debate Over Online Court Records By Brian Krebs, Newsbytes WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 3/16/2001 A hearing on the privacy and security implications of a plan to grant and allow public Internet access to all US court documents became a virtual court battle today. Journalists, lawyers and investigators all fought charges that the new system would only encourage illegitimate uses of detailed personal information.
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South Florida Business Journal January 7, 2000 (Guest Columnist: BRIAN P. McGUINNESS) Few employers realize that investigations they may conduct in regard to their employees are governed by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the amendments that were enacted in 1996. They unwittingly may be violating federal law when investigating, for example, violent employees.
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He could be in another city, another country or hiding down your block. Andrew Cunanan could be anywhere. The only thing authorities know for sure is that a suspected serial killer lived quietly in Miami Beach and frolicked loudly on South Florida's gay scene for two months and now seems to have simply vanished, despite massive media exposure and a manhunt that ranks among the largest in state history.
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