I thought I would let everyone know that I just found out that Rootsweb has moved its Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Database at http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ssdi.html over to the pay-side of Ancestry.com - in other words: it's no longer free as far as I can tell. They said it was "due to sensitivities around the information in this database." I wonder how many other things on Rootsweb will be considered too sensitive and moved to the pay-side, as well. Pauli

This is all over Facebook this morning, with blog references by well-known genealogists such as Dick Eastman and Megan Smolenyak. Here's a link to Megan's blog referencing this: http://megansmolenyak.posterous.com/are-we-going-to-lose-the-social-security -deat Seems to be due to an initiative before Congress to pass a ban on posting the online SSDI due to identity theft issues. She has some links in her blog to other blogs and/or articles. Congress, in its short-sightedness, doesn't seem to realize that doing away with the online SSDI will allow more identity thefts to occur, as many banks, credit card companies, etc., use the SSDI to double-check for fraudulent applications. Alice Allen CC for Bent, Otero and Teller Counties -----Original Message----- From: cogen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cogen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Pauli Smith Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 9:32 AM To: cogen@rootsweb.com Subject: [COGEN] SSDI Database Moved to Pay-side of Ancestry.com I thought I would let everyone know that I just found out that Rootsweb has moved its Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Database at http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ssdi.html over to the pay-side of Ancestry.com - in other words: it's no longer free as far as I can tell. They said it was "due to sensitivities around the information in this database." I wonder how many other things on Rootsweb will be considered too sensitive and moved to the pay-side, as well. Pauli