July 10th, 2008 FredMoss
RPAC Brochure–The Case for Open Public Records
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.
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April 17th, 2008 FredMoss
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.
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April 13th, 2008 FredMoss
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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, CO 80035-0998
Phone 303-422-9371, fax 303-456-8825, e-mail admin@apgen.org
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January 5th, 2008 JanAlpert
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.
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October 27th, 2007 JanAlpert
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).
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