A few years back, California birth records (name of person, county born, date of birth and mother's maiden name) were available...free...on the Internet. Some elected official was convinced it contributed to identity theft, although no Social Security Numbers, current addresses, or even whether the person was alive or not, so the State of California removed that information from the internet. BUT... you can still get them through Ancestry.com or Vital search, or plenty of other sites.....IF YOU PAY. Is that the fate of Massachusettes records too. Angel in California