Sorry all, in my haste, I forgot to change the subject header to my first attempt to get this message to you... Jana -----Original Message----- From: Jana Black [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 2:42 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [MarinGenSoc] Book Review: Your Guide to Cemetery Research Hi all, It was brought to my attention this AM that that Indiana has a Bill pending to restrict access to records in the state. The Indiana Gen Soc has written a Resolution against the Bill and the information can be read here: http://www.indgensoc.org/HB1540.html. Apparently tonight www.DearMYRTLE.com is doing a show on the topic! Here is the info: "If the increasing trend towards closure of public records throughout the country is of concern to you, be sure to tune in to the DearMYRTLE internet radio show discussing the topic TONIGHT by visiting www.DearMYRTLE.com and call the show 1-877-638-7234 between 9-10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in US." Below is the post relating details of the show and a post Myrtle received regarding proposed legislation now in Indiana, following on the heals of the one that came up and passed in the VA House the other day. There's another one proposed in Missouri: http://www.house.state.mo.us/bills03/member/mem115.htm It's not too late to stop either of these bills if everyone takes action. While protecting ourselves against identity theft is essential, both the VA bill (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/VAALBEMA/) (text of VA bill attached at end of this post) and the IN bill (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/INHENRY/2003-02) http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2003/IN/IN1540.1.html are very poorly written and ambiguous, giving up much more than is necessary for reasonable and adequate protection of privacy against identity theft. IMO, we all need to gather as a nationwide group of genealogists and pay attention to this kind of legislation, similar to what was passed last year in CA. We all know that we end up searching pretty much every state in the union looking for our kin, so Bills like this affect us all! "Protecting people against identity theft" is a politically correct notion right now, but Legislators are not researchers. Frankly, my personal experience in writing CA legislators was that they were far more interested in paying attention to how their votes would affect popular perception of them for upcoming voting days than they were in informing themselves regarding the difference between what would truly compromise one's identity and what merely makes a researchers job even harder. Perhaps if we all tune in tonight, we can begin to educate the pubic regarding the differences! The time to stop such serious restrictions is BEFORE the laws are enacted, not later. Please help spread the word about this critical matter; tune into www.DearMYRTLE.com tonight from 9-10 p.m. EST US; and contact the legislators of any state considering such legislation to make it clear that you are against it for very good reasons. Jana Black