Where do companies like staterecords.org, spokeo.com, whitepages.com, and so many others get their information from?     

As an example, I went to [NY's Criminal Justice site](https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/ojis/recordreview.htm) to see if I could get my own, but it requires me to pay, how are these companies able to get it for millions of people, is the government just giving it away?