IDENTITY THEFT THREATENS ACCESS TO RECORDS
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
The largest threat to genealogical records access today is Identity Theft and the most coveted prize of identity thieves is the social security number. To curb acquisition of social security numbers by persons with ill-intent legislatures across the nation are trying to pass laws closing records groups which contain social security numbers. In many cases the social security number has no purpose being on documents other than intrusiveness.
Two bills, S 228 and HR 637, both referred to as the Social Security Misuse Prevention Act, are being introduced in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to limit the use of social security numbers by governmental agencies as well as public and private entities. It also sets stringent penalties for the illegal use of such numbers.
The Genealogical Society of Utah has been working with the authors of the bills to have amendments attached to the bills stipulating the law covers only social security numbers of living persons and has no effect on social security numbers of deceased people. With such a statement it is hoped the Social Security Death Indexes will remain accessible to genealogists and other statisticians needing such documentation. The authors have agreed in principal but have not included the amendments in the proposed bills.
The GSU has, therefore, asked the genealogical community to contact the bill sponsors and request the amendment. The authors of the bills and their contact information is: Senator Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510, (202) 224-3841/fax (202) 228-3954 http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html ; Senator Patrick J. Leahy, 433 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510, (202) 224-4242 senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov ; Senator Judd Gregg 393 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20510, (202) 224-3324 mailbox@gregg.senate.gov ; Representative John E. Sweeney, 416 Cannon Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, (202)225-5614/Fax (202) 225-6234.
MCGHS MEETS
The Montgomery County Genealogical and Historical Society meets at 6 p.m. the first Monday of each month at the Montgomery County Public Library, 104 North I-45 in Conroe.
Paula Perkins Parke will address the May meeting of the society on May 5. Her topic will be the Benefits of Using Family Tree Maker Software. There is no charge for the meeting and the public is encouraged to attend. For more information call the society at 936-756-8625 or email them at mcghs@yahoo.com .
Incidentally, the society is still accepting articles for their upcoming two volume county history on Montgomery County businesses and families who resided in the county. For more information visit the MCGHS website at ~http://www.rootsweb.com/~txmcghs/mcghs.htm
GARDES TALKS ON INTERNET RESEARCH
Charlie Gardes will present a multi-media production of an ancestral case study at the next Clayton Library Friends meeting. His topic is titled Virtual Research: Beyond Databases and Gedcom Files, What’s Really Out There? The presentation is designed to demonstrate ways of mining the Internet for genealogical information.
The Clayton Library Friends meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday May 10 at Bayland Park Community Center, 6400 Bissonett in Southwest Houston. The lecture is open to the public and free of charge. For more information contact Dick Warren at 281-461-1472 or by email at dick@merlins-web.com .
