There are some laws that protect privacy in various countries. From the information Ray posted earlier it sounds like Scotland is not as controlling about what can be published as some other countries. I guess it depends on how litigious the folks in that country are. In the US census records are published every 72 to 75 years. Some states are pushing to do what is being done in Europe which is the 100 year rule because so many folks are living into their 90s and 100s now. I think you open yourself up for all kinds of issues with living people who did not want their data listed on a web site that anyone can view. One of my aunts had her identity stolen and my family is ultra sensitive to publishing data on living people. (It was stolen from a govt agency of all places!) I make it a rule to try to eliminate any one born after 1910 from my gedcom at this time. I maintain two gedcoms. One that stays on my computer and does not get uploaded anywhere. One that can be uploaded. The one that can be uploaded has the missing people listed as male or female child living. If I get a death date, then I go ahead and fill in the details. I try once a year to update data for anyone born in the next year. So in 2011 I will go up to 1911 and so forth. I know that there are many genie folks who will disagree with this conservative approach, but I would rather not have the headaches of angry emails or worse yet a legal issue arising out of privacy laws. I have people in my gedcom from countries that strictly enforce the 100 year rules. I heard from one of my genie friends, who is writing a book, that he was told to remove anyone born prior to 1910 if the book will published during 2010. My understanding is that he was told this by his publisher, the LDS, and his lawyer. We had a similar discussion on another list about this and there is a lot of different opinions out there concerning it. I just decided to take a conservative approach and then I figure I am covered. In my experience, lawyers don't seem to agree on this topic within the same country let alone trying to make sense of it in an international forum. Laura

2009/12/1 Laura Bozzay <rbozzay@earthlink.net> wrote: There are some laws that protect privacy in various countries. From the > information Ray posted earlier it sounds like Scotland is not as controlling > about what can be published as some other countries. I guess it depends on > how litigious the folks in that country are. > ___________________________________________________ Hi Laura, I was only referring to Statutory Registration. The rules for the Census are different because there is much more personal [i.e. private] data on Census returns. The Statutory Registers have been open for scrutiny - by visiting any number of official offices - since they were first recorded [1837 for England & Wales, 1855 for Scotland] but it is only since the advent of the Internet that access has become so easy. But no-one has updated the 19th century laws for these registers [nor should they in my view]. -- Best wishes Ray ********************************************************** >From Ray Hennessy Forenames website: www.whatsinaname.net Preferred Email address: ray@whatsinaname.net Hints for Scotland's People at http://bit.ly/WIAN-SCP **********************************************************

Hi Laura, I agree totally; we recently had a similar discussion on the South African site. This resulted from the publication by the S.A. authorities of the 1984 voters roll on line. I was in South Africa at the time and voted in that election, and many of us felt that we did not want our details, including our identity numbers, published for all to access. After much discussion about the accessibility of public records, one lister emailed me privately with a lot of private information relating to me which he had been able to access from the public records on line, just to show me how easy it was. This included the fact that I had an antenuptial contract registered in 1981, my husband's name and date of birth, by date of birth and my maiden name. I think as family historians we should be content with accessing the records of people who are deceased, and rely on our own family knowledge for anything on living persons. We should also not publish online anything relating to living persons, as a mark of respect for their privacy. Cheers, Carol 2009/12/1 Ron and Laura Bozzay <rbozzay@earthlink.net> > There are some laws that protect privacy in various countries. From the > information Ray posted earlier it sounds like Scotland is not as > controlling about what can be published as some other countries. I guess > it depends on how litigious the folks in that country are. > > In the US census records are published every 72 to 75 years. Some states > are pushing to do what is being done in Europe which is the 100 year rule > because so many folks are living into their 90s and 100s now. > > I think you open yourself up for all kinds of issues with living people who > did not want their data listed on a web site that anyone can view. One of > my aunts had her identity stolen and my family is ultra sensitive to > publishing data on living people. (It was stolen from a govt agency of all > places!) > > I make it a rule to try to eliminate any one born after 1910 from my gedcom > at this time. I maintain two gedcoms. One that stays on my computer and > does not get uploaded anywhere. One that can be uploaded. > The one that can be uploaded has the missing people listed as male or > female child living. If I get a death date, then I go ahead and fill in > the details. I try once a year to update data for anyone born in the next > year. So in 2011 I will go up to 1911 and so forth. > > I know that there are many genie folks who will disagree with this > conservative approach, but I would rather not have the headaches of angry > emails or worse yet a legal issue arising out of privacy laws. I have > people in my gedcom from countries that strictly enforce the 100 year > rules. I heard from one of my genie friends, who is writing a book, that he > was told to remove anyone born prior to 1910 if the book will published > during 2010. > My understanding is that he was told this by his publisher, the LDS, and > his lawyer. We had a similar discussion on another list about this and > there is a lot of different opinions out there concerning it. I just > decided to take a conservative approach and then I figure I am covered. In > my experience, lawyers don't seem to agree on this topic within the same > country let alone trying to make sense of it in an international forum. > > Laura > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >