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Finding Sources
Thousands of Web sites offer access to government records and other
types of public information compiled by agencies, nonprots, news orga-
nizations, and commercial enterprises. Investigators should remember
that as with other published materials, verication is necessary before
accepting any record as fact, and before assuming that when a record is
not found in an online database, it does not exist. In all probability, even
a very thorough search will not include absolutely every database that
could contain a record of the subject. However, by maintaining an up-to-
date, complete list of URLs and searches, the analyst can credibly assert
that a search was as thorough as possible. Not all governmen ...