Yes, Jean, I agree, that is what I also call these genealogists too (and I use that term loosely) "name collectors" so they can take up more room than they should be allowed. There is one cemetery that I have visited that I was not allowed information unless I was a relative, I had already thought ahead on this one and brought my birth certificate, my father's birth certificate and his father's death certificate, I was allowed access to their records on my line after that. Even though the person's interred in that cemetery were dead, their living families have the right of privacy and protection. Even though a living person's birth record and marriage record etc... is public information at the courthouse does not give individual's the right to THROW that information up on the Net for millions if not a billion people to see, I don't think that millions of people are going to go to the courthouse in the state and county I was born to retrieve my information. But throwing it up on the Net can breed all manner of nefarious activity and hurtful things. I all the time see people whine about the government being too "in tune" in our personal lives and activity and so on, so why would this be any different? Is it any less an invasion? It is more an invasion. Jana On Sun, 9 Feb 2003 19:22:38 -0500 Jean Loudin <jloudin@rtol.net> writes: > The sad part is that it is only a few genealogists--I call them name > > collectors--that do this type of posting. It is as if they are in > some > competition to find the largest number of people to put on their > trees. > > If we would remember that genealogy is searching for your roots, > your > families past, and not collecting names, then states would not be > adopting these rules. My advice? If you do not have copies of your > birth > certificates and marriage certificates, get them. You are going to > need > them someday and it may be very difficult to get them. > > Jean > > >