FYI... ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Rushton" <george_rushton@yahoo.com> To: <CAALAMED-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 1:53 PM Subject: [CAALAMED] San Jose Mercury Editorial on C.A.B.I./ Dec 2, 2001 > You might want to read this Editorial, and sent it to > people in the state for why not to ban the C.A.B.I. > > George > > Published Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001, in the San Jose > Mercury > News > > EDITORIAL > > > The opinion of the Mercury News > > > It's not really Identitytheft.com > > Genealogy site pulls data purchased from the state > off the Web, but access to it should not be narrowly > restricted; there are other ways to protect privacy > UNTIL Friday, you could go to RootsWeb.com and type a > name of anyone born in California between 1905 and > 1995. You'd get the person's birth date, county of > birth and mother's maiden name. > > But two days after a hearing in Sacramento drew > attention to the site, and incensed Californians > protested that their privacy had been invaded,RootsWeb > pulled the data. RootsWeb.com is a genealogy site. If > you're into family history, it might save hours of > traipsing from county to county looking for documents. > If you're a news reporter, you could verify an > official's résumé. If you're an adopted child, you > might uncover the Rosetta Stone to your past. > > But if you're a crook, the site might help make > somebody your mark. The California data told you where > to go for a birth certificate, which is useful in > obtaining a passport and applying for a job. Many > banks use a mother's maiden name as a password, > assuming strangers don't know it. > > That may have been a safe assumption, until > RootsWeb.com bought 25 million Californians' birth > records from the state for $900. For now, you too can > buy the CD ROM for that price. But Sen. Jackie Speier, > D-San Mateo, is calling on Gov. Gray Davis to halt the > sale of the database. > > Davis should resist the pressure. RootsWeb.com > simply made available, in one location and with one > click, records that have always been available to > those willing to scour for them. You can make a good > case that the potential beneficial uses of the > information outweigh the imagined harm of making it > more accessible -- notwithstanding some people's gut > reaction against seeing their mothers' names on the > Internet. > > Even staunch privacy advocates disagree in this > case. At the Senate hearing that brought RootsWeb.com > to light, Speier said she'd introduce a bill to limit > access to birth records, in order to discourage > identify theft. Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, the > sponsor of a landmark identity theft bill the > Legislature passed this year, said she saw no reason > to. Let's wait for actual, not hypothetical, evidence > of a problem, she said. > > Bowen got it right. Identity theft -- > impersonating someone, usually to get a driver's > license or credit card -- is a mushrooming crime. But > fear of it shouldn't rationalize narrow access to > public records. > > There are more effective ways to prevent identity > theft, like regulating who gets copies of birth > certificates or forbidding companies to use a maiden > name as a password. > > A tension has always existed between individuals' > privacy interests and people's right to public > records. Until the emergence of data bases and the > Internet, it was less of an issue. Most people didn't > have the time to go through government files. > > With the Web, practical barriers are falling; > governments are posting, and companies are buying and > putting up, all kinds of records. > > There is personal information -- Social Security > numbers, testimony in divorce cases -- that > governments should not widely disseminate, in order to > protect privacy and prevent identify theft. Government > should ban companies from selling information they > gather about individual customers without the > customers' consent -- something the Legislature has > refused to do. > > But the Internet itself doesn't alter the > balance between privacy interests and the need to > know. Public records hold government accountable and > protect the public. Voting lists, mortgage liens, > court records all have legitimate uses demanding > public access. The burden on those who would restrict > it must remain high. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. > http://shopping.yahoo.com > > > ==== CAALAMED Mailing List ==== > Alameda Co, California CAGenWeb > http://www.katpher.com/alamecty/alamecty.htm > >