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Mississippi

The Mississippi State Death Index (1912-1943)

@ReclaimTheRecs on Twitter

Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs·

Last night, the RTR board unanimously voted in out newest board member: say hello to genealogist Christopher Smothers (@uyrgenes)! He was the rock star behind our acquisition and first-ever publication of the Mississippi state death index a while ago. And more coming soon! 🙂

Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs·

We tweet from time to time about the CFAA because there are lots of non-copyrighted historical records that are kinda-sorta accessible online through search engines or image galleries, but not yet through bulk download, so…

Big example: @nycrecords 😏

Eric Geller@ericgeller

BREAKING: In 6-3 vote, Supreme Court narrows scope of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, landmark cybercrime law, ruling that it doesn't cover situations where people who are authorized to access a computer system do so for improper reasons. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-783_k53l.pdf

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Eric Geller@ericgeller·

BREAKING: In 6-3 vote, Supreme Court narrows scope of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, landmark cybercrime law, ruling that it doesn't cover situations where people who are authorized to access a computer system do so for improper reasons. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-783_k53l.pdf

Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs·

🧮 MATH PROBLEM!
A 36 pound box containing 94 microfilms (92 35mm and 2 16mm), holding the first-ever out-of-archive copy of 30 years of a never-before-published state birth index with 1,794,558 names, leaves California for Salt Lake City at about 2 PM.

Q: How many relatives? 🙂

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Dave Maass 🔦@maassive·

The ironiest irony is that the police union also used copyright to block release of the training for how to respond to public records requests. (With that, I'ma going back on vacation) https://twitter.com/checklbpd/status/1397220615719956480

CheckLBPD@checklbpd

Good luck EFF. The public's right to know how police are trained to use force should trump any copyright a company put on the training it sells to the police. https://twitter.com/maassive/status/1397219052871901186

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Sam Williams @sosonkyrie·

How can the #genealogy community work together to better advocate for record access?

Great minds at @ngsgenealogy @ReclaimTheRecs might be able to reflect on what’s already being done on that front.

@CarolinaGirlGen @blackprogen might have some thoughts too!
#familyhistory https://twitter.com/FamilySleuther/status/1398647054004539396

Family Sleuther@FamilySleuther

@AmyJohnsonCrow @leprchaunrabbit @ReclaimTheRecs It makes me wonder how many other similarly valuable record sets are caught up in the same legislative limbo. The genealogy community would benefit from centralized advocacy to identify these types of restricted records and advocate for legislative change. #mytwocents

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James Valvo @JamesValvo·

As @CauseofActionDC argued, we must look to how the agency maintained the record in question before the request. That is now the law of the circuit.

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James Valvo @JamesValvo·

Note, this agency activity occurred before the #FOIA request. The standard is not how did the agency segment a record during the FOIA processing, as DOJ had claimed AILA allowed them to do.

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James Valvo @JamesValvo·

This remains the key consideration: how did the agency treat the record at issue before the #FOIA request.

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James Valvo @JamesValvo·

D.C. Circuit rules DOJ violated #FOIA when it segmented records to avoid disclosure, but declines to invalidate DOJ guidance advising agencies to do just that. A partial solid win in an ongoing battle. @CauseofActionDC @RPMulvey #appellatetwitter

https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/630C08273BF7503A852586E70050834B/$file/20-5182-1900746.pdf

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Reclaim the Records

4 weeks ago

RUN AND TELL THAT: USCIS IS ASKING FOR YOUR PUBLIC COMMENTS ABOUT THEIR PRICE GOUGINGHi records friends! Today we have a time-sensitive opportunity for you: a chance to tell a major federal government agency with millions of never-before-online historical records about how and why they can shape up and do better. If speed-kvetching about genealogy is your thing, now’s your chance!Here’s the super-short version of what’s going on and what you can do right now (like, today):www.recordsnotrevenue.comAnd here’s the super-long comment our organization has formally submitted to USCIS, to make the case for better public records access:www.reclaimtherecords.org/about/activism/uscis-genealogy-program/And here’s the much longer backstory, explaining what this is all about, in our latest newsletter!mailchi.mp/reclaimtherecords/run-and-tell-that-uscis-genealogy-program-public-commentsWe hope you’ll take the time to read all this, and to submit a comment to USCIS right away. You can submit your comment online, it won’t take long. Tell them how you feel about their agency holding millions of records hostage, records which ought to go to the National Archives.Public records belong to the public. And our shared American history is not the agency’s piggybank. Don’t delay, tell them today!
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Reclaim the Records

3 months ago

RECLAIM THE RECORDS’ LONG-RUNNING LEGAL FIGHT TO OPEN 1.6 MILLION NYC DEATH CERTIFICATES MOVES FORWARD!Hello again from your friends at Reclaim The Records! Today we have an exciting update in our long-running legal battle to (1) acquire and then release to the public about 1.6 million currently-inaccessible NYC death certificates from 1949-1968, totally free, as uncertified digital scans that we want to put online, and (2) strike down some truly awful new rules that heavily restrict public access to twentieth century New York City vital records, even from some of the relatives of the people directly named in the records.This project originally started back in October 2017, when the City held a public hearing at which none of the people in attendance and none of the more than six thousand people nationwide who submitted public comments voiced support for the new and incredibly strict record access rules. But the City went ahead and approved the stricter rule change anyway.Well, that just wouldn’t do. So in February 2019, we sued them.And it was quite a long list of "them". The Respondents in our case include the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, the New York City Bureau of Vital Statistics; the New York City Board of Health; Oxiris Barbot in her official capacity as New York City Commissioner of Health; Gretchen Van Wye in her official capacity as New York City Registrar; and last but certainly not least, Steven P. Schwartz in his official capacity as former New York City Registrar.We had one court hearing in November 2019 and one in early 2020, before two different judges, facing off with the City over some of the issues. And then the pandemic struck, and things in the New York City court system understandably got put on hold for a while.But now, we’ve got some movement — and, you guys, we don’t want to jinx it, but it seems to be looking promising!Want to read the latest details, and links to all our court paperwork? (There’s a lot of it!) It’s all in our latest newsletter issue!And here it is:mailchi.mp/reclaimtherecords/our-legal-fight-to-open-1-point-6-million-nyc-death-certificates-mov…Fun fact: the 2019 National Genealogical Society conference, which was held in Washington DC, makes a special guest appearance in this one, helping us catch city government officials "astroturfing", or making up fake support for their policies! (See, those overpriced Fleetwood conference session recordings really do come in handy!)Come for the discussion of the City hypothetically suing local cemeteries for supposed privacy invasions, stay for the unexpected "Hamilton" references. Check out our news and let us know what you think!
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Reclaim the Records

7 months ago

~ RELEASE THE KRAKEN! ~Reclaim The Records is once again taking on the New York City Department of Records – Municipal Archives, but this time we’re asking for ALLLLL THEIR RECORDS. All of them. Every historical New York City birth, marriage, and death record. Every scan of an old will or deed or tax assessment list or military recruit list. Every everything! We’re going to get them and then put them all online for free, for everyone to use. No fees, no restrictions.We’re sick of the Archives’ illegal and immoral "licensing" and "permissions" con job restricting public access to historical public records. We’re mad that they’re continually ignoring the people and patrons they’re supposed to be serving.And so, we just filed a big brand new Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the city, and you can read all about it here, in very copious detail:www.reclaimtherecords.org/records-request/28/Enjoy! And if you have questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.
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Reclaim The Records is an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Our EIN is 81-4985446. Contact us at [email protected]

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