On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Dennis P. Harris wrote: >On Fri, 21 Dec 2001 15:21:29 GMT in soc.genealogy.misc, Paul >Havemann <paul@havemann.com> wrote: >> The prevailing question is whether the need for public >> availability of certain information overrides the need for >> privacy. For birth records, I'm not yet certain which wins out. >> As far as death records go, exactly how many cases are there of >> identity theft based on them? >> >That's exactly how the purported murderer of Martin Luther King >got a passport to get out of the country. He used the birth >certificate for someone who was born about the same time he was, >but who died when he was 3 or 4 years old, from a search of birth >& death records in a state that had open access. > >Sixty Minutes or 20/20 or a similar program reported numerous >cases with hidden camera examples several years ago. Using one >birth cert of someone who died before getting a SSN, the show was >able to create several false IDs and obtain drivers licenses and >passports. > >My state now sells fancy limited edition birth certificates >designed by local artists, with the extra fee going to subisidize >childrens' programs, but I couldn't order one for my brother to >give him for his 50th birthday. My mother could, because he was >her child, and my brother could (as could his children), but they >wouldn't sell one to me, his brother. Under state law, they >can't even confirm his birth information for me. IMHO that's the >way it should be. I disagree. As an immediate family member, you should have been entitled, upon proof of relationship.

Which could easily be proven with copies of your's and your brother's birth certificates. D. Stussy <kd6lvw@bde-arc.ampr.org> wrote in message news:Pine.LNX.4.10.10112230049090.18576-100000@exp.bde-arc.ampr.org... > On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Dennis P. Harris wrote: > >On Fri, 21 Dec 2001 15:21:29 GMT in soc.genealogy.misc, Paul > >Havemann <paul@havemann.com> wrote: > >> The prevailing question is whether the need for public > >> availability of certain information overrides the need for > >> privacy. For birth records, I'm not yet certain which wins out. > >> As far as death records go, exactly how many cases are there of > >> identity theft based on them? > >> > >That's exactly how the purported murderer of Martin Luther King > >got a passport to get out of the country. He used the birth > >certificate for someone who was born about the same time he was, > >but who died when he was 3 or 4 years old, from a search of birth > >& death records in a state that had open access. > > > >Sixty Minutes or 20/20 or a similar program reported numerous > >cases with hidden camera examples several years ago. Using one > >birth cert of someone who died before getting a SSN, the show was > >able to create several false IDs and obtain drivers licenses and > >passports. > > > >My state now sells fancy limited edition birth certificates > >designed by local artists, with the extra fee going to subisidize > >childrens' programs, but I couldn't order one for my brother to > >give him for his 50th birthday. My mother could, because he was > >her child, and my brother could (as could his children), but they > >wouldn't sell one to me, his brother. Under state law, they > >can't even confirm his birth information for me. IMHO that's the > >way it should be. > > I disagree. As an immediate family member, you should have been entitled, upon > proof of relationship. >