This site feels icky and I’m not quite sure how to articulate why. What is the purpose of this service? Why is it good for the public have access to detailed records of individual, recently deceased veterans? Isn’t this a gold mine for scammers? Is this project LDS affiliated?
Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
11–20 of 76 posts
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#12Thanks for your efforts in liberating this data so that Ancestry.com isn’t the only ones with it!
Reminds me a bit muckrock.com as well.
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#13Spent a few minutes trying to find an answer to "why do this?" Beyond just implying that it should be done and the most I was able to find was one sentence buried amongst paragraphs and paragraphs of "what" and "how".
> these materials were largely unknown and inaccessible to historians, journalists, and genealogists
I think it would be worthwhile to lead with that and include a little more detail too.
If there isn't a clear motivation, people will assume the worst.
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#14As a veteran, I am aghast that this exists. What an invasion of people’s lives. To me this is far worse than when I was notified that a foreign adversary had stolen my military records, because at least they’re not publishing it on the web for all to see. Veterans aren’t politicians, and they don’t deserve to have their lives put on display like this without their permission. Some vets signed up because they wanted t…
As a person, not a Veteran, I totally agree. This data should not be public domain. Definitely only accessible to family members (if at all).
Having obtained my father’s military records, I can definitely say that I’m glad these weren’t online, searchable. Via those records I learnt much concerning my father and I’m glad I obtained them.
To get those records, I had to prove I was his son, that my father was indeed deceased and that he hadn’t said/written anything to prevent me from having his records. That should be the minimum (IMHO) for obtaining such records. This wasn’t in the USA though.
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#15Are you aware that the API appears to be publishing the SSN of each individual? Although I’m aware most SSNs are leaked in one breach or another, I still thought it was customary in the U.S. to attempt to keep such information somewhat protected.
I agree it probably isn't a great idea to publish it... I'm guessing some malicious actor could find a way to use this information to fiddle with the remaining benefits their family might be receiving... That said, the _typical_ things an SSN is used for would not be terribly useful for someone that's been dead >2-4 years... Automated checks should flag e.g. credit applications as being for a dead person :-)
Do voting registration boards check for this too?
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#16As someone trying to piece together family history, after most of my family has died, I really appreciate this. Any and all efforts to make records available helps with clues. Building an accurate family history is a process of "one more document". This effort is definitely helpful to me. I've already utilized your service to submit a request for my grandfather's records. I'll be spending time searching for other relatives as well. Thanks!
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#17I believe you should work to limit exposure of sensitive information like SSN: while it's ok to allow search by an exact SSN, you should probably not display it unless the requestor already knows what it is.
OTOH, if you have really succesfully worked to make this database public domain and do publish it somewhere (and you did, as I can see at https://archive.org/details/BIRLS_database), this wouldn't be of much help against any malicious actors out there.
But really, it seems the burden is on VA if there are non-deceased persons in the database since they have done a bad job of maintaining the data, and they would be liable for any leakage of information (unless Reclaim the Records was aware of any in particular). Even so, RTR might have put themselves out on the fence for some lawsuits against them too.
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree it probably isn't a great idea to publish it... I'm guessing some malicious actor could find a way to use this information to fiddle with the remaining benefits their family might be receiving... That said, the _typical_ things an SSN is used for would not be terribly useful for someone that's been dead >2-4 years... Automated checks should flag e.g. credit applications as being for a dead person :-)
Do voting registration boards check for this too?
>49 states plus the District of Columbia have voter registration lists and in all of them there is a process for removing deceased voters from the list. (Note: North Dakota does not require people to register to vote.)
https://tracker.votingrightslab.org/issues/voter-list-mainte...
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#19I previously tried getting military records for my deceased grandfather. From what I can recall, it was complicated by the fact that I wasn't "next of kin", which would limit the data I'd have access to. Even my parent, who was next of kin, would have needed additional paperwork as proof, e.g. a death/marriage certificate for my grandmother.
On one hand, if this works then I'll be happy to have the information I otherwise wouldn't have. But on the other hand, all these processes, no matter how convoluted, exist for a reason. It feels weird bypassing those.
Re: Show HN: New search engine and free-FOIA-by-fax-via-web for US veteran records
#20My father, grandfathers and all my uncles are here. All deceased. I’m failing to find a use case for social security numbers to be present here. Or any of it to be honest.
Dead people's SSNs are published on a regular basis by the Social Security Administration (the "Death Master File" or "Social Security Death Index"). Once you're dead it's not really private information.
I agree with you re: living people's SSNs, though.