Actually, http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi allows you to do an interactive search on the Social Security Death List, complete with birth and death information, SSN, and a form letter to send to the Social Security Administration for a copy of the original application. The first option on the page is an ancestry.com search, but scroll down and you'll see the other one.
-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Madden, Robert
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 8:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ARCHIVES Digest - 31 Mar 2006 to 1 Apr 2006 (#2006-89)
I fear for the federal government's creations. I believe you now have
to sign up with Ancestry.com in order to access the Social Security
Death List. If someone knows different, please tell me. I've seen
copyrighted editions of Statistical Abstract - where the "copyright
holder" has put in little explanations, cross-references, etc. and the
average person might not be able to tell what is government-created
(public domain) or added (not public domain.) Actually that was some
time ago. I wonder if some court case decided those extras did not
constitute creativity.
Bob
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 13:06:02 -0600
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Intellectual Property Run Amok-end of the public domain?
I have been dealing with a number of copyright issues on the
photograph-related side of things and concur with some of the concerns
voiced in this thread. It seems that copyright, etc., which does have a
legitimate purpose, has been taken to such draconian extremes that it
has
the real risk to stifling creativity and expression. A lot of this, of
course, comes from the entertainment industry and their sympathethic
lawyers and politicians (thanks for nothing, Sonny Bono).
I was talking with a colleague about this last night and she and I both
worry that the public domain itself is a threatened species that could,
save for things created by the federal government, become extinct in our
lifetimes and that everything would be owned and nothing would be free
to
use. Is anybody else worried about these things or doing something about
it?
More and more, I think a compromise solution would be that copyright
goes
with the creator of the object and when that creator dies or the
creating
institution folds, the rights go into public immediately, end of
discussion. Family does NOT get rights (in part because how do you
determine who among, say, six kids or 3 siblings who says yes to it?).
If
one wanted to, say, run the family photo studio after the founder died,
then, sure the rights conitnue. Otherwise no, unless, perhaps there is
a
very specific request in the creator's will. After all, just because my
father practiced veterinary medicine does not mean I get the right to
conduct follow-up checkups on the animals he treated.
Thoughts?
Jay Price
Department of History
Wichita State University
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
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In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>