You wrote: > I knew you felt like that Richard. <g> I just called Social Security to do > some things for an elderly relative of my late husband's. Every question > they asked him to verify his identity I could have answered and accessed his > account [if I had a good fake old man voice]. Frankly that makes me nervous. I don't think even I can accerss my own accout - they are only open to hackers! The accounts aren't on line. <g> I am trying to change the place of deposit for my check and there is a long routine involving knowlege my present depository and the new one, plus I must know the amount and place of the last deposit - and then if I pass all those tests, they will MAIL me a password - only to my address of record on file with them. > As I said, I seriously doubt the information is good for identity theft but > there are other things that go on in this wonderful world we live in. Yeah, I guess so. Let's try this one: The chances are thousands of times greater that you will be in an auto accident on the way to the grocery store than you will suffer any sort or loss or misuse of on-line genealogical data. Using your approach, am I right in assuming you don't drive - or ride with sometone else - the the store? Far-festched, to be sure, but there really are some risks that have little or no consequencesd attached to them. > Birth certificates of living people should never be shared if no other > reason than it might upset that person. I alreadly agreed with that point. > And birth records, with the detail > that is on birth certificates, are NOT public record any more. You > absolutely cannot get or even see a birth certificate for anyone under 75 in > Illinois unless it is yourself or your minor child. Even if the person is > dead and the county clerk went to the funeral, if they were born less than > 75 years ago you aren't getting the birth certificate. More's the pity. It Records are being closed in other states, too. And all of it is in large part due to public (and their representatives) being panicked by Luddites who are afraid that free access to information on the Internet will result in world destruction. Well, not really that bad, but I know that the Association of Professional Genealogists are seeing a necessary part of their research closed off to them - not because of what has happened (not even once) bit because of what MIGHT happen. I guess it tells us more about the world we live in than I care to know! I really don't mean to be argumentative, and I do understand some people's desire not to have personal information about them bandied about and I do respect it. Richard P.S.: A couple of years ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an article which quoted "witnesses" at a Congressional hearing that putting genealogical information on line was a gold-plated invitation to identity theft. It turns out that not only was there no such hearing (a Congressman did, however, ask several witness about this - because one of his constituents had written complaining that some one else had posted her genealogical information on line). Not only were there no hearings, but the New York lawyer quoted in the article wasn't asked about genealogy on line during the hearings - his input came in a phone call from the reporter. I had no trouble tracking him down, however. In spite of his dire warnings about genealogy and identity theft, he was easy to find. His person biography, names of parents, place of birth, home and office numbers, and a long list of places throughout the world he had consulted with government and business on "Internet privacy." All of this and more on his own personal web site, along with his email address. After the exchange of several emails, this consultant - this expert on "identity theft" - finally admitted he knew of no instance where genealogical information had been used to commit fraud. But, he said, an example of the kind of information that is a "gold mine" for identity thieves was the Social Security Death Index. Here was a lawyer, law professor and "internet privacy consultant" who apparently got paid handsomely for telling people stuff like this - here is such a person who did not even know that main reason the Social Security Administration releases this information quickly and totally is so that financial institutions can instantly spot fraud by checking to see if someone is trying to use the social security number of a deceased person! Goodness.

That's precisely what we were doing Richard. They didn't ask him all those questions though. Interestingly, the last time we did this the bank did it without any help from us. I'm talking about birth certificates, not online genealogy files. They are a totally different subject. They are asking why you want the death certificate too but if you say genealogy they don't ask more. Finally, it is not legislators who are worried about identity theft as much as the Patriot Act and other responses to 9/11 that is causing this last round of tightening up. I see no use terrorists can make of death certificates, probate files, etc. I don't suppose they want to pose as a 60 year old man or woman either. I don't want to be a 60 year either but I suppose that will happen regardless. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.7 - Release Date: 4/12/2005