One data broker told Congress his company relied on public databases or Internet searches to get personal information.

NPR: Pretexting Is Alive and Well in Corporate America

These time estimates are also based on narrowly tailored requests that do not require extensive searches in multiple databases.

FORBES: What Yahoo! Knows About Its Users

The FBI conducted a standard 90-day inquiry, including searches of public databases, its own files, and those of other agencies, as well as a voluntary interview, U.S. officials said.

WSJ: U.S.: Russia Withheld Intel on Boston Bomb Suspect