Privacy fiasco: Rootsweb offers concessions

NEWS Rootsweb.com, the Californian genealogy company that posted over 24 million birth certificates on its website this week, has offered to remove the information if asked by listed individuals. The decision was made after lawyers complained about the ease with which an identity can be taken from the site. However, despite the concession, experts are concerned that only a small number of people will phone the company and get their data removed. When people called the company earlier this week to ask for their details to be removed, they were refused and told it was public information. Details from maiden names to social security numbers are available dating from 1909. The state of Texas is also involved in a similar practice. The sales of birth and death registers may come to an end as the US Congress has renewed a debate concerning the federal government's sale of a huge database that provides all known details about citizens, including social security numbers.