FYI,
Congress is at it again. A member of the House is trying to cut free access to the Social
Security Death Index (SSDI). Apparently, there is a move to stop free public access then
resell the SSDI to proper vendors under the guise of protecting the IDs of dead people.
Please see attached and article start below for details.
Why is the free SSDI needed? It is an important tool for genealogists to estimate death
dates in the USA and to gain access to a copy of the Social Security application which
provides birth, parent names and location of the applicant when the application was filled
out.
Since the most up to date version of the SSDI is always a year or so after the last death
recorded, even delaying another year is not a big problem for genealogical purposes.
There is a time limit on HR 3475, Keeping IDs Safe Act of 2011 – you need to have a
properly formatted response by 16 Feb 2012 to the committee. See:
http://tinyurl.com/6uwu4aw
Note if this passes and is enacted, this bill would effectively end public access to the
death file (SSDI).
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA
Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project
http://carpentercousins.com/carpdna.htm
SSDI Call to Action!
Posted on January 29, 2012 by Judy G. Russell
Sounding a call to action to save our access to the SSDI
On Thursday of this coming week (February 2, 2012), the Subcommittee on Social Security of
the House Ways & Means Committee in Washington, D.C., will hold hearings that have the
capacity to drastically affect the access of genealogists to the Social Security Death
Index (“SSDI”) and related underlying information.
You can read the press release from subcommittee chairman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) here and —
trust me on this one — it ain’t friendly to genealogists and our day-to-day use of the
SSDI. We all need to be crystal clear on this: Rep. Johnson’s bill would effectively mean
an end to public access to the Social Security death master file (the essential source for
the SSDI) completely.
Only invited witnesses will be allowed to present oral testimony at Thursday’s hearings.
In Washington-speak, that means “the deck is stacked.” But all of us, as citizens and as
genealogists, can be heard. All we have to do (yeah, all we have to do, right, I hear you,
but do it anyway!) is: (a) get the facts; (b) understand the arguments; and (c) speak up —
write, call, or e-mail the subcommittee, its members and our own Representatives.
Step 1: Get the Facts
... full article at:
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/01/29/ssdi-call-to-action/