I heard Sharon Sergeant CG, and Pat Richley (Dear Myrtle,) both professional genealogists, discussing just this on a podcast last week. Sharon made the case for totally open records, stating that they have been making studies and there are not many cases of identity fraud from vital records, and that almost all of the cases are caused by people that you know, family members, former friends, business acquaintances, and so on. These cases almost always are because someone ripped off your credit card, or you left your social security number laying around with your bank statement and such. Sharon is the professional genealogist that with others broke the recent Holocaust fraud story of the lady that claimed she was raised by wolves. It was all over the news the last couple of weeks. I am not a fan of bureaucrats being paid to protect me! I've seen too much in my long life. I hear you anyway, and I accept your points. Well said, as always. Dick On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Cynthia Van Ness <[email protected]> wrote: > > --- Dick Hillenbrand <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Myself, I think any kind of restriction on these indexes, in > > any manner > > whatsoever, by the state is just plain silly! The time limit > > restrictions > > being met, who cares? Most all of these people are dead and > > gone, or at least over the hilll. \gin/ > > You may well be right, but we pay our public servants to protect > us. If someone figured out a way to exploit the indexes for > large scale identity theft, we'd be screaming bloody murder > because the regulations were too lax. I don't know if identity > theft is a credible threat (maybe it is not) but I do know that > the Health Department would be irresponsible to ignore the > possibility. > > > > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* > Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com > http://www.BuffaloResearch.com > > "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city living. City > living by its definition is crowded. It is tolerant of other people. It is > dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred compromises > daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy that a city > generates." --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Oh, just remembered something. Vermont has a totally open vital records program. You can walk in there and get a birth, death or marriage record photocopy from any event, for any one, even if the event was just a few days ago. I doubt there is very much identity fraud from their vital records program. On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 7:48 PM, Dick Hillenbrand <[email protected]> wrote: > I heard Sharon Sergeant CG, and Pat Richley (Dear Myrtle,) both > professional genealogists, discussing just this on a podcast last week. > Sharon made the case for totally open records, stating that they have been > making studies and there are not many cases of identity fraud from vital > records, and that almost all of the cases are caused by people that you > know, family members, former friends, business acquaintances, and so on. > > These cases almost always are because someone ripped off your credit card, > or you left your social security number laying around with your bank > statement and such. > > Sharon is the professional genealogist that with others broke the recent > Holocaust fraud story of the lady that claimed she was raised by wolves. It > was all over the news the last couple of weeks. > > I am not a fan of bureaucrats being paid to protect me! I've seen too > much in my long life. > > I hear you anyway, and I accept your points. Well said, as always. > > Dick > > > > On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Cynthia Van Ness <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > --- Dick Hillenbrand <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Myself, I think any kind of restriction on these indexes, in > > > any manner > > > whatsoever, by the state is just plain silly! The time limit > > > restrictions > > > being met, who cares? Most all of these people are dead and > > > gone, or at least over the hilll. \gin/ > > > > You may well be right, but we pay our public servants to protect > > us. If someone figured out a way to exploit the indexes for > > large scale identity theft, we'd be screaming bloody murder > > because the regulations were too lax. I don't know if identity > > theft is a credible threat (maybe it is not) but I do know that > > the Health Department would be irresponsible to ignore the > > possibility. > > > > > > > > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* > > Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com > > http://www.BuffaloResearch.com > > > > "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city living. > > City living by its definition is crowded. It is tolerant of other people. > > It is dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred > > compromises daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy that a > > city generates." --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007) > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >

Thanks, Dick, but I don't need convincing. I am not keeping anyone from these records, New York State is. I was just reporting a regulation as it was communicated to BECPL and thinking out loud about what the rationale might be. If the Onondaga Public Library is in fact disregarding Health Department regulations, you may soon have less access to the index, not more. Everyone who agrees with Dick should communicate their sentiments to the NY State Health Department and their state legislators. --- Dick Hillenbrand <[email protected]> wrote: > I heard Sharon Sergeant CG, and Pat Richley (Dear Myrtle,) > both professional > genealogists, discussing just this on a podcast last week. > Sharon made the > case for totally open records, stating that they have been > making studies > and there are not many cases of identity fraud from vital > records, and that > almost all of the cases are caused by people that you know, > family members, > former friends, business acquaintances, and so on. > > These cases almost always are because someone ripped off your > credit card, > or you left your social security number laying around with > your bank > statement and such. > > Sharon is the professional genealogist that with others broke > the recent > Holocaust fraud story of the lady that claimed she was raised > by wolves. It > was all over the news the last couple of weeks. > > I am not a fan of bureaucrats being paid to protect me! I've > seen too much > in my long life. > > I hear you anyway, and I accept your points. Well said, as > always. > > Dick > > > On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Cynthia Van Ness > <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > --- Dick Hillenbrand <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Myself, I think any kind of restriction on these indexes, > in > > > any manner > > > whatsoever, by the state is just plain silly! The time > limit > > > restrictions > > > being met, who cares? Most all of these people are dead > and > > > gone, or at least over the hilll. \gin/ > > > > You may well be right, but we pay our public servants to > protect > > us. If someone figured out a way to exploit the indexes for > > large scale identity theft, we'd be screaming bloody murder > > because the regulations were too lax. I don't know if > identity > > theft is a credible threat (maybe it is not) but I do know > that > > the Health Department would be irresponsible to ignore the > > possibility. > > > > > > > > > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* > > Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com > > http://www.BuffaloResearch.com > > > > "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city > living. City > > living by its definition is crowded. It is tolerant of > other people. It is > > dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred > compromises > > daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy > that a city > > generates." --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007) > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes > > in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com http://www.BuffaloResearch.com "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city living. City living by its definition is crowded. It is tolerant of other people. It is dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred compromises daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy that a city generates." --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007)