Some genealogy websites have decided to stop listing Social Security numbers online. Those numbers can be really useful for genealogists who are working on their family trees. Unfortunately, those numbers can also be used by thieves who want to commit identity theft.
One of the resources that genealogy websites use is something called The Social Security Death Index. Insurance companies use it too, but not for the same reason that genealogists use it. Insurers who sell life insurance use the Death Master File database to determine if policyholders have passed away. Genealogists use it to locate the Social Security number of an ancestor, in order to help confirm that they have, in fact, found a document that connects directly to their ancestor, (and not to someone else who had the same name).
The Death Master File became publicly accessible under the Freedom of Information Act. The reason was because businesses in the United States wanted to use it as a tool against identity theft. One of the rules regarding the information found in that file stated that these records either must be posted in their entirety, (including the Social Security Number), or not at all. Therefore, genealogy websites pretty much had to include it in their records.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the accessibility of that information made it easier for thieves to use other people’s Social Security numbers to commit fraud, or identity theft. This is especially problematic when a person who is still alive accidentally has his or her Social Security number added to the Death Master File. Suddenly, that person gets refused job interviews, and denied credit cards, and doesn’t have the slightest idea why.
Another problem is that especially nefarious thieves have searched the Death Master File for the Social Security numbers of recently deceased children. Thieves then claim those children as their own dependents when they file a federal income tax form. Imagine how distraught a grieving parent would be if this happened to their child.
Earlier this month, four Senators sent letters to various commercial genealogy research companies, urging them to withhold some of the information that they get from the federal government under the Freedom of Information Act. Specifically, they want the websites to stop listing Social Security numbers. Genealogybank.com has stopped listing Social Security numbers. They were the first to comply. Earlier this week, Ancestry.com, the largest commercial genealogy website in the United States, also decided to stop listing Social Security numbers.
The Mormon church, which operates FamilySearch.org, another very popular genealogy website, hasn’t stopped listing Social Security numbers yet, but they are looking into how to resolve this matter. The New York Times Co. operates Genealogy.about.com. While that website doesn’t actually list Social Security numbers on it, it does link to websites where those numbers can be found.
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