The definition of public records is information about you provided to the public by a state or government agency. Public records include things like birth and death records, property ownership, marriage and divorce records, criminal and civil judgments, and more. Thanks to the Internet, many public records that were once kept in dusty filing cabinets are now instantly available around the world at the click of a mouse. Often, people will misinterpret public records or get confused about people with similar names, leading to false gossip.