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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Ind. Law - Bill would limit access to birth, death records, pitting freedom of information against privacy concerns

"Bill would limit access to birth, death records" is the headline to an Indianapolis Star story today by Greg Hafkin that begins:

Birth and death records now open to the public would be closed under a bill proposed in the Indiana House, pitting freedom of information against privacy concerns.

House Bill 1067 would make it harder for someone to retrieve another person's birth or death information unless they are a relative of the person listed on the record, a member of the media or someone researching genealogy. Others would have to get a court order to gain access to the records.

Proponents say the legislation would cut identity theft.

The legislation raises issues beyond which records should and shouldn't be open to the public. In an age of Internet blogs and nontraditional families, defining media and who constitutes a relative could be difficult.

"It could be very important for a community group near a stream or near a dump or factory that might suspect for some reason that they're part of a cancer cluster," said Stephen Key, general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association, which objects to the bill. "By going to the county health department and checking the causes of death for people, they might be able to show there's a problem."

The proposed legislation directs the Indiana State Department of Health to create rules to govern the inspection of records by genealogy researchers. While the media still would have access to most records, it would be blocked from looking at documents that list the cause of death.

Under current state law, information on birth and death certificates is available to the public, with the exception of Social Security numbers.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 17, 2006 08:10 AM
Posted to Indiana Law