I'm sorry, I'm just going to have to stick my "two cents" worth in here... I've been watching with great amazement of just how uninformed the "general public is" and I do not understand just why that is, when there are television programs, Internet warnings etc.. on identity theft and just HOW easy it IS to steal another's identity. I'm a licensed private investigator and have been for well over ten years, and I have had clients with the problem. I've said it many times before and now I'll say it again, no living persons names in gedcom's (at the very least) posted on the Net. There's no reason for it. I have to agree with the person who posted that we are researching our roots, our ancestor's, no reason to put a living person's name, in that manner, why make it easier??????? First off, yes, I know that in most states, WV included anyone can look at anyone's birth records....ANYONE'S.......but in WV just anyone cannot get a CERTIFIED copy of a birth record so many years old.... Yes, anyone CAN look at marriage and death records too, and in some counties in WV the SS number is included on the marriage record, but they now might all be redacted by now, they weren't 2 years ago. Again, WHY make it easier by posting living person's information, even their name, their spouses names, their children's names ALL make it EASIER to get information in order to differentiate one person from the next person with the same name, so again, why make it easier for the potential perpetrator. I've seen so many people say, "I didn't think it could happen to me"...you'd be surprised at just how intelligent many criminals are and the easier you make it for them, the more fuel is added to the fire. The Net is a wonderful invention and there will always be someone "lurking" around, thinking up a way to make life easier for themselves, let us not help them even if it is in the most minute way. You can point to other means of stealing a person's identity but what we are talking about here is genealogy and not making life easier for person's wishing to conduct criminal activity, even if is is "just the names of living person's and not their dob's" because that's all you need till you pinpoint the person with a dob a place of birth, their parents, mother's maiden name, father's parents, mother's parents and all places of birth ...on and on and on....even IF one person is a victim of this crime and the perpetrator found this person's name in a gedcom, that is one person too many. We all know that there is a lot of people in our families that do have our personal information but again I'd like to point out that we are talking about genealogy, let's not compare oranges to oranges. One more word of warning.....when you get those credit card invitations in the mail telling you that you are already approved, shred them or burn them, just don't throw them "willy nilly" into your trash, that goes for all billing info that you might want to discard...... Jana