FreeBMD: 7 Steps to Contribute: "Since 1837 births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales have been registered and genealogists use the index records as the first step in ordering copies of the actual certificates. It is these certificates which provide a wealth of information on parents, addresses, names etc. Microfilm and Microfiche copies of the original indexes have been made and are available for viewing but require access to a microfilm/fiche viewer that is difficult or requires significant travel for many people. Searching through the microfilm/fiche index records is also very slow and it is easy to make mistakes.
FreeBMD is an entirely volunteer project. It is hosted by Rootsweb and intends to bring this process into the 21st century. By putting the index records on the Internet it will be simpler and quicker for researchers everywhere to locate the record they are looking for. What used to take hours over a fiche reader can now be achieved in seconds. Access to the index records will remain free, hence our name: FreeBMD. Researchers will still need to buy the required certificates from the Office of National Statistics of Britain, but FreeBMD makes it easier to find exactly the index record you are looking for. "