And besides, the SS-5 information is likely to be a whole lot more accurate than the death cert. anyway! It was filed by the person him/herself at a period in life when his/ her memory was probably pretty good, while the Death Cert. is filed by someone else who may not have accurate information and is probably distraught on top of it. Joy Weaver Charles Sullivan wrote: > > Whatever gave you the idea that what governments do > is logical? > > Regards, > Charles Sullivan > > Lynn Brandvold <lynn@gis.nmt.edu> wrote: > >Hi GEN-NYers, > > > >I received the message below. Does anyone know the answer? I hadn't > >thought about it before but Valerie is right, it does sound illogical. > > > >Lynn > > > > > >> Dear Lynn > >> > >> I have used the FOIA to obtain records of people listed in the Social > >> Security death benefits list and have found only one problem with the > >> process -- that it is very slow. However, in New York State, there are > >> particular state laws preventing non-direct descendants from obtaining > >> vital records of a person before a certain number of years, a number > >> that changes depending on the type of record and whether the person is > >> alive. > >> > >> My question is: Does the Committee for Open Government in Albany intend > >> FOIA to override these privacy laws? It seems odd that I can find out > >> birth/parent details on someone who died in 1999 if I write to the > >> Frederal Govt., but I have to wait for 50 years according to NYS > >> regulations. All it means to genealogists is that there is a period of > >> time that precedes the SS list of people but that is closed to easy > >> research because it falls into the privacy category. It all seems > >> illogical. > >> > >> Valerie Clift > > > > > >==== GEN-NYS Mailing List ==== > >Have you considered joining the Rootsweb Genealogical Data > >Cooperative? > > http://www.rootsweb.com/ > > ==== GEN-NYS Mailing List ==== > Have you forgotten how to UNSUBSCRIBE? > Visit the GEN-NYS-L Frequently Asked Questions (And Answers!) web page: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nozell/GEN-NYS-L/FAQ/GEN-NYS-L.txt -- mail to: joyweave@erols.com Outline trees for: HALLOCK, HEAD, PALMER, SELDEN at: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/w/e/a/Joyce-R-Weaver/ USA (mostly northeast): Burnside, Green, Merritt, Morris, Palmer, Selden./ CANADA (ON/QC): Brown, Clark, Grant, Weaver./ ENGLAND(Lanc.): Hunt, Wall. POLAND (Zaklikow, Lublin): Blumberg, Fogiel, Rozenel./ BELARUS (Brest, Grodno): Feinberg, Vilner.