This is the very reason that, in CA, one of the state representatives introduced a bill to stop all vital records access except to family members. It was fought by the local chapter of FGS and others as there is not real proof that identity theft comes from genealogy sources any more than other sources. WE are all asked to give the maiden names of our mothers for identity purposes with differenty agencies. I doubt if your website is any more to blame than other sources. What proof did this person have that it came from your website? Obviously if we put our whole family tree on the internet I suppose someone could a use the info. ONe reason I never have sent out a gedcom. However, people I have shared my information with HAVE put it online with out asking me. This really made me mad and I no longer share my info unless I know the person real well. Another option would be to include only up to a point where anyone of a "useful" age for identity theft would not be included in the online data. I wouldn't think you'd need to eliminate your whole website. Just cut it off your family info at a reasonable date. Barbara Stenberg, Placerville CA Cn8ff@aol.com wrote: > > I have received an email requesting me to remove any reference > to an individual from one of my family websites. They believe that > the mother's maiden name was obtained from my website to commit > Identity Theft of this individual. > If this has happened I am very sorry that I may have contributed to > any illegal activities. > I felt that I should pass this on to all the LISTS on which I am active at > present, hoping that this does not happen to anyone else. > I do request that if anyone sees anything on one of my websites that > they feel may inconvenience them in anyway I would very much like to > hear from the individual and any reference to them will be removed. > I feel if this can happen again I may remove my websites from the > Internet. > All the best to everyone, > Dick Wilt, Bridgeport, WV <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/kl7aiz">www.RWILT.com</A>