Sounding a call to action to save our access to the SSDI

"On Thursday of this coming week (February 2, 2012), the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Ways & Means Committee in Washington, D.C., will hold hearings that have the capacity to drastically affect the access of genealogists to the Social Security Death Index (“SSDI”) and related underlying information.

You can read the press release from subcommittee chairman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) here and — trust me on this one — it ain’t friendly to genealogists and our day-to-day use of the SSDI. We all need to be crystal clear on this: Rep. Johnson’s bill would effectively mean an end to public access to the Social Security death master file (the essential source for the SSDI) completely."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

California teacher harassment probe is public record

"If a school district finds that one of its teachers has sexually harassed a student, a California court says the public has the right to see the records of the investigation.

The ninth-grade teacher, who was reprimanded but not criminally charged in the incident, has substantial privacy rights at stake, said the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. But the court said parents have an overriding interest in learning about a schoolteacher’s conduct and how school officials responded to it."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Wisconsin recall petitions may go online

""Since domestic violence and stalking victims already have their information shielded from the public poll books based on state law, we feel that those same protections should be extended for the recall petition publicly accessible documents," said Stacy Harbaugh of the ACLU."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Missouri legislation targets anonymous callers

"A bill in the Missouri House would make it a crime for people making phone calls to misrepresent themselves by inserting false information on caller ID systems."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Fund Managers and SEC Registration

"The SEC has provided a no action letter in response to an American Bar Association request on guidance for private fund managers. The ABA requested clarification that a group of funds could use a singe registration where the fund managers are in a control relationship and conduct a single advisory business subject to a unified compliance program. The theory is that permitting a single registration (and a single Form ADV filing) to cover the entire group of related advisers would more accurately reflect the full nature and scope of the single advisory business conducted by the group. Therefore it would be more informative for advisory clients and private fund investors as well as the SEC."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator