Thanks to Mark Lomax in California for thes heads up on TV tonight! We utilize the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) in our research and many have cited incidents of not being able to find family members in these open records. There are two issues here: l) TV tonight &, (2) the future of the SSDI # 1) Tonight on "60 Minutes" 7pm eastern, CBS-TV channel 2 in Metro NYC The show is addressing large numbers of deceased people who are not listed in the SSDI, and large numbers of living Americans who are listed in it. The 60 Minutes website states that "Errors in the government's Death Master File are costing taxpayers billions and creating nightmares for those wrongly declared dead." # 2) Our access to the SSDI is threatened to end. The proposal is that select people will certify to access the SSDI by taking an exam. The excuse given is that these SS #s have been stolen. It's no wonder when too many online sources use ours, including department store charge cards. Dick Eastman on the proposal to end our access to the SSDI. http://blog.eogn.com/2014/12/30/death-master-file-request-for-comments-on-proposed-final-rule/ TO DO....Read, ignore the deadline date, and make public comments> http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30199.pdf Barb

I've been hearing about this for a while via the Jewish Gen Discussion Group which gets reports from the Records Preservation and Access Committee (<http://www.fgs.org/rpac/>). As I understand it, the proposed rules only involve access to the most recent 3 years worth of SSDI data; records older than 3 years will continue to be available to the public, though with less data fields available than before. Hopefully that hasn't changed. Dee Dee King has previously gone through the steps to certify, and reported on her experience. That article is available at the following link if you select Volume 4, Issue 3: <http://www.forensicgenealogists.org/resources/newsletter/> -- Mary On 3/15/2015 12:56 PM, mizscarlettny via wrote: > Thanks to Mark Lomax in California for thes heads up on TV tonight! > > We utilize the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) in our research and many have cited > incidents of not being able to find family members in these open records. > > There are two issues here: l) TV tonight &, (2) the future of the SSDI > > # 1) Tonight on "60 Minutes" 7pm eastern, CBS-TV channel 2 in Metro NYC > > The show is addressing large numbers of deceased people who are not listed > in the SSDI, and large numbers of living Americans who are listed in it. > > The 60 Minutes website states that "Errors in the government's Death Master File are > costing taxpayers billions and creating nightmares for those wrongly declared dead." > > # 2) Our access to the SSDI is threatened to end. The proposal is that select people will certify to > access the SSDI by taking an exam. > > The excuse given is that these SS #s have been stolen. It's no wonder when > too many online sources use ours, including department store charge cards. > > Dick Eastman on the proposal to end our access to the SSDI. > http://blog.eogn.com/2014/12/30/death-master-file-request-for-comments-on-proposed-final-rule/ > > TO DO....Read, ignore the deadline date, and make public comments> > http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30199.pdf > > Barb