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Archiver > TMG > 2005-12 > 1135793184


From: "Richard Pence" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Printing and Privacy [Long!]
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 13:06:24 -0500
References: <200512281448.jBSEm0jJ001300@mail.rootsweb.com>


Sue, an interesting story with some regrettable events. However - unless I
missed something - what happened did not happen as the result of someone
placing information on living persons in an on-line genealogy.

Richard


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sue Richart" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 9:47 AM
Subject: RE: [TMG] Printing and Privacy [Long!]


> Richard,
> When I made this post, I was thinking of a situation that happened earlier
> this year.
>
>
>> You have a valid point, but by publishing information about living
>> people you make it much easier for someone of ill intent to obtain
>> all the information they need in one handy-dandy location. That is
>> why most of us restrict the publication of information of living folks.
>
>>This argument is often made, but there seems to be no basis in fact to
>>support it.
>
> My former neighbor's mother left the family when she was a year and a half
> old. There had been a brief reconnection, but the mother's problems were
> still there. My neighbor expressed interest in her heritage, so I started
> a
> search. I found the mother's death record and got her SS application.
> From
> there, a genealogical socity researcher got the marriage record of the
> grandparents. The grandparents and maternal great-grandparents were
> findable back to 1900 in the censuses. A few months ago, I finally got
> the
> death record of the grandfather and with that was able to track down a
> second cousin researching the family.
>
> Then the problem started. The second cousin was in contact with the
> former
> neighbor's step-brother. The step-brother that had visited the former
> neighbor's home in another state back in the 1970s, when he deserted from
> the Army. Not only was he a deserter, but during this time he stole from
> them and lied to them about various things. The second cousin sent my
> email
> on to the step-brother and he contacted me about contacting my neighbor.
> The fact that the step-brother was trying to contact them really stressed
> out the whole family. But, the step-brother didn't remember her married
> surname and I NEVER used it in any of my postings, so he couldn't track
> them
> down. The second cousin is now aware of the problem and won't pass any
> information on to the step-brother.
>
> Is there criminal intent here, I doubt it. Although based on his email to
> me, it doesn't appear that he has changed. I'm not sure how the
> step-brother could find her marriage with the current privacy laws, but I
> concede that was able to find a lot of data just starting with the SSDI.
> In
> the long run, I am very thankful that I didn't use my former neighbors
> last
> name, because it saved them a lot of hassle.
>
> Sue Richart
>
>
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