The following is an excerpt from Thomas MacEntee's posting on the FGS Voice blog. It deals with an issue that all genealogists should be aware of. These technology and privacy laws threaten future use of records for family historians. Please go to http://voice.fgs.org/2013/03/fgs-joins-records-coalition-senator-orrin-hatch.html for the complete article.
March 18, 2013 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has joined the American Library Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, as well as other organizations, in an effort to ensure continued access to records for the genealogy and family history communities.
The coalition, in a letter dated March 19, 2013, is urging Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah) to take a leadership role on important issues involving technology, privacy and genealogy records access. These include:
updating the laws and regulations governing the use of the "Death Master File" of the Social Security Administration and its commercially available Social Security Death Index (SSDI); and
updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).
FGS and other coalition members have called upon Hatch to take action due to his “contributions to facilitating genealogical research . . . commitment to both law enforcement and privacy, and . . . interest in promoting development of the technology sector.”
The coalition seeks changes to recent laws and policies which threaten access to records vital to the field of genealogy as well as “genealogists who work to identify military remains, who work with coroners’ offices and medical examiners, who are forensic genealogists, heir researchers, and those researching individual genetically inherited diseases.”
To follow the latest developments involving these issues important to all genealogists, follow the Records Access and Preservation Committee blog at http://www.fgs.org/rpac/.
Posted by Ron Setzer
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