In a post 9/11 world, the new millennium is faced with two significant social developments. First, the concern over the proliferation of personal information now made available and second, the need to legitimately identify a country’s citizens through official records that support that claim.
These seemingly competing issues present a significant challenge for local, state and federal lawmakers as they strive to ensure national security, combat terrorism and respond to the privacy needs of their electorate.The genealogical community is in complete support of lawmakers protecting sensitive information from misuse by those perpetrating crimes of identity theft or other illicit activities.
The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), a joint committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society is leading the genealogical community to openly share perspectives on these vital issues and add their support to fostering education between lawmakers and genealogists. The committee believes that open communication between the nation’s genealogists and lawmakers can strike a reasonable balance between the public’s right to know while maintaining the lawmaker’s responsibility to its constituents.
This document is a project by the RPAC to provide information to lawmakers and those called to implement legislation about the genealogical community’s perspective of open access to records.
We envision that this will be a living document. Updates and corrections are welcomed and should be submitted to access@fgs.org .
This version has been approved by the Boards of Directors of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society. At the time of posting, it has also been endorsed by IAJGS.
The Federation of Genealogical Societies is a nationwide umbrella organization of nearly 600 member societies representing the interests of over one million genealogists.The National Genealogical Society represents the national interests of genealogy in the United States with a membership in excess of ten thousand.The Records Preservation and Access Committee also includes representatives from the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
Permission is granted for genealogical organizations to locally reproduce in its entirety the attached PDF version of the White Paper.
The Records Preservation and Access Committee have developed a tri-fold brochure entitled “The Case for Open Public Records.”
Special thanks are in order to President Jan Alpert of the National Genealogical Society for her role in coordinating the project and NGS for sponsoring the design of the brochure. We also thank Heather Henderson of Ancestral Origins for the graphic design of the brochure (and for her patience in managing the numerous edits of its content.) Copies of the printed brochure are available at 12 cents each plus shipping by contacting janalpert@aol.com.
We also want to thank the members of the RPAC committee who contributed information and provided editing support.
Permission is granted for genealogical organizations to locally reproduce in its entirety the attached PDF version of the brochure.
Information from Howard Margol, President, Litvak SIG (Special Interest Group), an independent organization, part of the JewishGen.org family has advised of the following changes in Lithuania’s privacy laws for records access.
Since Lithuania was no longer under the yoke of the Soviet Union, the
privacy law of the Lithuanian Archives was 50 years for death records and 70
years for all other records. As of January 1, 2005 Lithuania was accepted as a
member of the European Union and had to adopt their privacy law which was 50
years for death records and 100 years for other records.
Several months ago, the privacy law was changed. We do not know what
triggered the change but it was a welcome change never the less. The 50 year
requirement on death records, and the 100 year restriction on birth records,
remained in place. However, the 100 year restriction on marriage and divorce
records reverted back to the 70 year law.
GENEALOGISTS PUSH FOR OPEN RECORDS
Formation of the Keeping Genealogical Records Open Workgroup (KGROW)
WESTMINSTER, Colo., March 21 – The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) contends that there is no proof that open records significantly contribute to ID theft or terrorism. In a position paper that outlines the case for open public records, APG asserts that open records are rarely used by identification thieves and maintains that the benefit of open access to records far outweighs any potential abuse.
APG has joined forces with other genealogical organizations including the National Genealogical Society (NGS), The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in endorsing the position paper and calling on legislators to keep records open.
“Public records allow genealogists and other professionals such as medical researchers, journalists, historians and academic researchers to do their jobs,” explains APG President, Jake Gehring. He urges that “concerned citizens tell their representatives that they want to keep public records open.”
A group of professional genealogists within APG formed the Keeping Genealogical Records Open Workgroup (KGROW) in 2007 and prepared the position paper. Melinde Lutz Sanborn, FASG (Fellow, American Society of Genealogists) and member of the committee, says, “Open records and transparency in government are the best protections we have against twenty-first century fraud.”
The KGROW committee recommends in their paper that “lawmakers respond to the ID theft problem, not try to prevent a nonexistent problem.” Further, they encourage “private companies and government improve their protection of personal data.” The Case for Open Public Records position paper is available on the APG website at http://apgen.org/publications/press.
The Association of Professional Genealogists is an independent organization whose worldwide members number over 1,800. The group’s principal purpose is to support professional genealogists in all phases of their work: from the amateur genealogist wishing to turn knowledge and skill into a vocation, to the experienced professional seeking to exchange ideas with colleagues and to upgrade the profession as a whole.
Contact: Kathleen W. Hinckley, CG, Executive Director, Association of Professional Genealogists P.O. Box 350998, Westminster, CO80035-0998 Phone 303-422-9371, fax 303-456-8825, e-mailadmin@apgen.org
The genealogical group advocating Pennsylvania death records online has a website at http://users.rcn.com/timarg/PaHR-Access including FAQ. The National Genealogical Society has provided “People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access” a letter of support.
If you live in Pennsylvania, please contact your state representative and request that death certificates prior to the last 50 years, be available online. For more details and a sample letter see https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/RPAC/Death or contact timarg@rcn.com at People for Better Access to Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR).
To advise the genealogical community on ensuring proper access to historical records of genealogical value in whatever media they are recorded, on means to affect legislation, and on supporting strong records preservation policies and practices.