Liz, You say that ... "There is a privacy act regarding birth records. The Scottish was 100 years, for births and census. That is why you will only be able to get records up to 1904. The marriage and death records are less in time, with the marriages up to the 1920's and the deaths up to 1954" ... Whilst agreeing with you that those are the cut-offs for availability when it comes to searching b,m &d's on Scotlandspeople, I am curious to know why it is that people visiting New Register House in Edinburgh are able to access very recent births, deaths & marriages. When you go there, you are using a computer screen to search the indexes, and images - just as one uses a computer to access Scotlandspeople. So why the difference I wonder? Duncan, Dundee

I wonder, because here in Canada we can only access what is released and on line for Scotland. Actually, I was told when I first started that there was a 100 year privacy act, that was why the 1901 census wasn't on line until after 2001 and even at that it took some time to access that, and it was mainly to protect the privacy of the living. My information could be wrong....as I am finding out by the replies to my earlier mail. I also wanted information from Bangour Village, and at the time their site definitely had a reference to a 75 year privacy act, and they would only consider a lookup (for a fee) earlier if it were necessary for a medical issue. So it fell inline with the other. I haven't checked to see if there has been any change to that. I guess I have to go to Scotland to sit in the archives and find everything I really want to know. Regards, Liz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Duncan Smith" <d.smith.1@blueyonder.co.uk> To: <MIDLOTHIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 8:19 PM Subject: [MLN] Re - Birth Records > Liz, > > You say that ... "There is a privacy act regarding birth records. The Scottish was 100 years, for births and census. That is why you will only be able to get records up to 1904. The marriage and death records are less in time, with the marriages up to the 1920's and the deaths up to 1954" ... > > Whilst agreeing with you that those are the cut-offs for availability when it comes to searching b,m &d's on Scotlandspeople, I am curious to know why it is that people visiting New Register House in Edinburgh are able to access very recent births, deaths & marriages. When you go there, you are using a computer screen to search the indexes, and images - just as one uses a computer to access Scotlandspeople. So why the difference I wonder? > > Duncan, Dundee >