Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Saving the SSDI

The SSDI has been removed from from Rootsweb due to sensitivities around the information in it, but is still accessible to search on Ancestry.com and Ancestry Library Edition.

Four bills pending in the US Congress would remove the SSDI Death Master File from public access on the premise that it facilitates identity fraud on tax returns. However, the public access to the SSDI
stems from a 1980 court ruling that it prevents identity fraud.

The core problem is that the IRS does not use this resource to screen fraudulent claims, as well as other processing errors within the SSA.

The Records Preservation and Access Committee has created a Call to Action Kit.

Please consider signing the petition to help stop identity fraud, and save public access to the SSDI.

This affects everyone not just genealogists.



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