I am sure most everyone is familar with CARFAX, the service that helps car buyers find out the vehicle history of a car before purchasing.
But I never thought that CARFAX would shed so much like into what seems to me a very questionable practices in a job ad they recently posted:
Job Description
Overview:
The Business Development Manager’s responsibility is to develop public-private partnerships and relationships between law enforcement agencies and CARFAX in order to legally allow CARFAX access to vehicle records. In turn, the law enforcement agencies will then have free access to CARFAX’s national vehicle record system in order to locate vehicles! These records include, but are not limited to, accident, repair, service and other records for a particular vehicle. This position is best suited for a candidate with a strong law enforcement background!
Basically this person's job is do ask law enforcement agencies to provide CARFAX vehicle record access, that the agency might not normally provide, by giving the agency access to CARFAX's vehicle records.
Something to think about before signing up for their free Car Service Advisor: Carfax Service Advisor
CAVEATS - I do not know if CARFAX discloses to consumers that they share information with law enforcement agencies, and obviously consumers are aware that the information is collected to share with potential car buyers, so this isn't the most egregious invasion of privacy. Also, I am not saying that CARFAX is obtaining information from law enforcement agencies that it might not be legally entitled to. However, it does appear that they are using the data they collect from consumers to gain access that might otherwise not be readily accessible or very costly.