So Why Lock Up the Birth Records?

It seems that every week we hear of one more situation in which some politician or bureaucrat is trying to restrict access to public domain vital records. Everybody is trying to lock out everyone, including genealogists. Our right to access to public domain birth, marriage, and death information is being threatened constantly under the guise of "preventing identity theft."

Balderdash!

(That's as strong a word as I will use in this family-oriented publication.)

I am sure that the politicians love the limelight back home when they can brag that they have taken action to "prevent identity theft." Heck, nobody is in favor of identity theft, right? Therefore, just proclaiming to have taken some token action under the smoke screen of "preventing identity theft" is sure to win a few more votes in the next election.

"Facts? What facts? Don't bother me with facts, I've got a re-election campaign to win."

Well, now a new study has provided genealogists with some hard facts. These facts should serve as pinpricks to any inflated claims of preventing something that never existed.

A new survey of 4,000 consumers, about 500 of whom were identity theft victims, was recently conducted by Javelin Research and the Better Business Bureau for CheckFree, Visa, and Wells Fargo Bank. This study is based on cold, hard facts, not the rhetoric or conjecture of someone who makes pronouncements not grounded in reality.

According to the people who were victims of identity theft, here are the eight most common sources:

1. Lost or stolen wallet: 29%
2. Fraud that occurs during an in-store or telephone transaction: 12.9%
3. Corrupt employees: 9%
4. Stolen mail: 8%
5. Spyware on the computer: 5%
6. Sifting through garbage: 2.6%
7. Computer viruses: 2.2%
8. "Phishing" through fraudulent e-mail: 1.7%

Take a close look at the above. Please note the rating for "obtained a record from the vital records department." Do you see it? I don't.

The full report is quite lengthy. Here are a few other random facts extracted from the Better Business Bureau's announcement:

• Among cases where the perpetrator's identity is known, half of all identity fraud is committed by a friend, family member, relative, neighbor or in-home employee - someone known by the victim.
• A wide variety of metrics confirm that identity fraud problems are NOT worsening. In fact, the total number of victims is declining. The number of identity fraud victims dropped from 10.1 million in 2003 to 9.3 million in 2004.
• The median value of identity fraud crimes remained unchanged at $750; however most identity fraud victims incurred no out-of-pocket costs.

You can read the full report on the Better Business Bureau's web site.

The next time someone claims that access to public records needs to be restricted in order to "reduce identity theft," let's ask an embarrassing question: "Show me some proof." Then, in the awkward silence that follows, let's ask that person to read the facts as proven by the Javelin Strategy & Research report.

Here's a bit of advice to politicians and bureaucrats: please focus on real issues where there is a demonstrated need. Otherwise, someone may just deflate your balloon.

My thanks to Peter Parkhurst for alerting me to the results of this new study.

Comments

[Fran Bumann]

Thank you Dick for posting this article. I've been telling people this at our genealogical society. I am a victim of identity theft. The ONLY thing I did wrong 15 years ago was not to have a locked mailbox. When I noticed credit card statements missing, I notified the issuers, but they said there hadn't been any fraudulent activity on the accounts. Little did they know that the thief was using the information to open new accounts. And, how did she get the rest of the information she needed to pull off her scam? - she was an employee of the Federal Government who used their computers to target people with the same first name as she and same year of birth. She then stole the mail to complete the information quest. It was several years before I found what had been done and amazingly at that time I was told by the police that stealing my identity wasn't a crime! Thankfully, now it is. I'm glad to see a report with statistics to support the contention that the criminals are not using vital records for their crimes.

[Ken Madsen]

Wasn't the reason for locking up birth records an effort to find stolen children? I believe this was started before identity theft became a problem and was work with the requirement that a birth certificate was required to register in a school.

[Gordon]

While I agree that there is less need to restrict access to death records (although they often provide information about living informants which may not otherwise be public), I do believe we must all respect the privacy of the living. Birth and marriage records of living persons should not be legally accessible, except with the written permission of the subjects of those records. Laws in most states support this simple courtesy. Similarly, genealogists should NEVER post names or other information about living people, unless they have been specifically given permission to do so. If a genealogist really wants a copy of a vital record of a living person, just ask. If it's OK, you'll get a copy. If not, then just respect their wishes.

[Leigh Woodward]

Having read the US Surgeon General's recommendation to prepare a Family Health History, I've written to City/Town clerks in New York State and Florida requesting death cause information from their Vital Records.

Florida said they'd send me a VR (for $7, provided I sent a photocopy of a photo ID of me))..one NY town sent the information...two others claimed it's against NY laws to do so.

I'm thankful that most of my predecessors were from nearby Mass municipalities. Visiting them and getting the data was not a problem.

I expect to write to the Surgeon General after I've (hopefully) heard from more of the requestees.

[Martin Cassidy]

If you lump the fraud using computer-based "social engineering" techniques, you get a number like 10 or 11 percent, which would be number three on the list. So,it can be said that bad computer habits are a major source of the problem. But this information is not being "taken". it's being "given" by individuals.

It's a shame our lawmakers are so far behind technology issues: I'm sure most couldn't do a document, or do a quick google search on that name on their check they got in the mail.

[james van dyke]

Please correct our company's name to 'Javelin Strategy & Research'. You currently have two errors on your page: 1) you incorrectly list us as 'Javelin Research', an organization that we have no affiliation with. 2) You also list the report as "BBB's report", when it is in fact our report.

But having said all that, I'm glad you found the report to be valuable. Education is the most powerful weapon in protecting the public against identity fraud.

Best wishes,

James Van Dyke
Founder
Javelin Strategy & Research

[Dick Eastman]

Done. Thanks for the updates.