Closing Death Records Is Just Dead Wrong!

Fred Moss has posted an article on the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) Blog that I would suggest be required reading for every genealogist, every legislator, and every government employee who has responsibility for public records.

Note: RPAC is a joint committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Genealogical Society, and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

Fred describes the threats of identity theft and then tells how the restriction of access to public records is ineffective. He then writes:

“The most dramatic example of this paradigm at the Federal level is found in those provisions in Section 203 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 limiting access to and the content of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File. The context prompting these provisions arose in 2011 from particularly egregious cases of tax fraud by identity theft involving recently deceased children. Early House and Senate hearings highlighting these horror stories involved a narrative which injected additional elements to the paradigm.”

Fred Moss’ article is available at http://www.fgs.org/rpac/2016/10/28/closing-death-records-is-just-dead-wrong/.

I suggest you read Fred Moss’ article, then copy-and-paste it into email or print it out and mail it to your elected representatives.