While we never received official notification that we passed the site visit, it appears that we must have - because our most recent searches are displaying full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth.

So, the answer to our question about whether a site visit would automatically entitle us to full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth is a resounding “Yes.”

The post Does Passing the Newly Required TLOxp.com Site Visit Automatically Entitle Users to Full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth? appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

For investigative research database searching, we have been recommending TLOxp to lawyers for many years because it was inexpensive and did not require a monthly or annual subscriber fee. While the search began at 0.25 and quickly went up to $1.00 and then $2.00, and the comprehensive report went from $5.00 to $10.00, a subscriber fee was never instituted.

On November 5, 2015, we received an email notifying us that all that is about to change effective January 1, 2016. TLOxp will be instituting a $25 monthly minimum spend requirement. You can avoid this spend requirement if the sum of your monthly usage is greater than $25, but if you fail to meet the $25 monthly minimum, you will be assessed $25.

Another new requirement is that you now must submit to a $60 site visit. In the past, this was optional; you only had to submit to a site visit if you wanted access to full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth.  It is unclear if the new site visit requirement will now entitle all users access to full Social Security Numbers and Date of Birth. TLOxp explains the reason for the mandatory site visit this way: “To help ensure the highest standards for data security, TransUnion is conducting a periodic compliance validation, including updating information we maintain about users and your organization. This includes conducting a site visit for the location from where you access the TLOxp account.” 

Unlike the new $25 minimum monthly spend, the site visit won’t actually cost you anything because, “Your invoice will be credited back $10 per month over a six-month period starting in January 2016, once the compliance validation is performed.” TLOxp has given customers very little notice to complete their site visit—it must be completed by December 15, 2015.  During the site visit, TLOxp will be looking at four main areas at your office:

1. Verification that the company information provided during the credentialing process is accurate. This covers questions such as whether your company is located at the address provided, and if it appears to be operating as the business type represented.
2. Security review around how the information is accessed. Is there a keyed locked office and a locking filing cabinet, an alarm or security present, the computers accessing systems limited to employees only, and screens situated to where only employees can view the screens, etc.
3. Information destruction. Shredders or a service that provides secure document destruction is common.
4. Secure storage of information obtained from the system. Locks on the file cabinets or file rooms where printed reports may be stored would be expected. Antivirus or security software should be installed on systems that will be accessing the data

If you are operating from a home-based location, prior to the site visit, TLOxp wants a documented response about the following issues, within five (5) calendar days of your $60 site visit payment:

1. Whether the office is in a dedicated space, separate from the living quarters. The office must be for the sole use of the business and not located in a multi-use room. Indications of multi-use include beds, recreational equipment such as pool tables, and exercise machines.
2. Whether the dedicated office space is separated by a keyed lockable door.
3. Whether secure storage for any printed reports or documents in the form of a lockable file cabinet exists.

The post TLOxp Raises Prices, Requires Site Visit for All Subscribers appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

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Updated, searchable versions of the SSDI will apparently remain available at pay sites (like Ancestry.com). As of this writing, the Mormon Church-affiliated FamilySearch.org still offers a searchable version of the SSDI last-updated on October 31, 2011. Organizations will still be able to license access to the updated versions of the SSDI from the Social Security Administration's database vendor National Technical Information Service (NTIS). 

However, even the updated online versions of the SSDI and the Death Master File (DMF) everywhere also will be getting a lot less comprehensive (and useful). According to the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) database vendor National Technical Information Service (NTIS), effective November 1, 2011 the DMF will no longer include, "death records SSA receives through its contracts with the states, except in limited circumstances." According to NTIS, this will result in the removal of "approximately 4.2 million records from this file (as it currently exists) and add about 1 million fewer records annually." The use of state-supplied death information to the SSA is covered by The Social Security Act § 205r (42 USC 405).

Many researchers online point to the proposed "Keeping ID Safe Act of 2011" (KIDS Act of 2011) HR 3475 as the reason for the clamp-down on this information. One of the proposed laws stated goals is to prevent the Social Security Numbers of dead individuals (particularly children) from being used by identity thieves.

While the goal of thwarting identity thieves is a laudable one, this doesn't seem like the best way to do it. Perhaps Congress should be investigating updating and modernizing the SSA's computer storage and database systems or integrating the SSA system with the Internal Revenue Service's system in order to prevent the mis-use of the deceased's Social Security Numbers. An even easier fix would be to partially redact the Social Security Numbers included in the DMF and the SSDI. 

The post Rootsweb Removes Social Security Death Index (SSDI) appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.