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Archiver > APG > 2008-01 > 1201769610


From: "Richard A. Pence" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Funeral records in a library
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:53:30 -0500


Kathy Rippel" <> wrote:

> The library director has been "cautioned" by an interested party that
> they should not allow patrons to read the complete funeral home file
> because of possible "identity theft" and other privacy reasons.
>
> Could I have some feedback about what you think?

I'll give you my opinion. "An interested party" is full of it.

Identity theft is a nonissue. First, 95 percent of what is called "identity
theft" comes as a result of loss or theft of credit cards or checkbooks. And
half of that loss is from people known to those whose cards are "borrowed"
or stolen. Second, the main reason for the release of the information in the
SSA's Death Master file (known to genealogists as the Social Security Death
Index) is so that financial institutions can guard against wrongful use of
the SS number of a deceased person.

I'll leave it to others more informed than I to comment on the "privacy"
issue (which I also think is humbug, but that's hardly a legal opinion <g>).

Richard P.
Fairfax, Virginia

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