The  Death Master File (DMF) was created because of a 1980 consent judgment resulting from a  lawsuit brought by, a private citizen under the Freedom of Information Act.  As a result of that consent judgment, which specifically requires that identifying information including the Social Security number be divulged, Social Security Administration now maintains a national file of death information, the DMF.  Under the Freedom of Information Act, Social Security is required to disclose the DMF to members of the public.

Although the Death Master File is not available online from Social Security Administration, the United States Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service (NTIS) offers a subscription service for online queries of the Death Master File through their Website.

The Death Master File Extract of this information is also available for sale [on either DVD or electronic download] through the Social Security Administration’s distributor, NTIS. The NTIS address is 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161, telephone (703) 605-6060 or 1 (800) 363-2068, or through their Website.

Please note that other parties have purchased the Social Security Death Master File Extract through NTIS and then posted it on their own Web sites. Although these private parties call/refer to their own Web sites as the Social Security Administration's "death index" or the Social Security Administration's Death Master File, these are not endorsed by the Social Security Administration, nor can Social Security confirm that these private web sites are kept up-to-date or accurate with Social Security death data in any way.