DEC 9, 2001 The index contains only some of the information on a birth certificate but includes the mother's maiden name, often required by banks and other institutions to access account information. After the hearing, Steffen said, Speier's office received more than 100 calls from people complaining that the birth index should not be available online, giving quick global access to their personal data. One genealogy site, RootsWeb .com, removed the information, as well as similar data from Texas, a week ago. But another company, Vitalsearch of Pleasanton, intends to keep the indices on its Web site. Steven J. Margaretic, Vitalsearch president, said most of the e-mails he has received are "begging us not to take it off and asking if we're going to fall prey to this wave of fear started by Sen. Speier." Margaretic said that though he sympathizes with people's worries, the data are a matter of public record. "We're not going to take it off unless we're forced to legally," he said. "S.F. O'Donnell" wrote: > The online death index for California (1940-1997) still works for the time > being. > > http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi > > Better than nothing eh? > > S. F. O'Donnell > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.