Hello everyone, I wonder if I could ask a question, particularly of the experts on this list, regarding publishing personal details. I am on the verge of publishing my family history and over the years (as have all of us) collected the birth, marriage, death, Will, education, employment, divorce and adoption information, not to mention one or two "secrets", of all my relatives. I am aware of the "etiquette" of not publishing the personal information about living people, even if they have given me their permission to do so. However, what I want to ask is this: Is it against the law to publish this information and, if so, what if I have permission to publish by virtue of the fact I have been told the information? Do I have to get permission from every individual, or would a parent's permission be acceptable for their children? If I can't publish personal information, can I then publish photos of these living people? I will be printing about a dozen copies only, half of which will go to the U.K. and the other half to various States in Australia. I have seen some websites that just give the word "Living" when referring to a family member but my personal opinion is that it is hardly worthwhile including them if you can't at least give their first name, or sex. In fact, what I had thought of doing to overcome the privacy thing, was just to include first name and the year of an event that related to them, but have decided just to put their first name only. Before doing so, however, I thought I should check to see if someone has a definitive answer. Seems to me that after seven years of collecting, it's a real anti-climax if I can't include the names of the hundreds of family members living. What sort of boring family history is it that the first half is fully detailed and interesting, and the second half just repeats the word "Living"! All thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. Jan.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that any certificate numbers from B.D & M are covered by copyright, so be careful if you are thinking of doing this more so if you are going to be selling the book but if it's only for family use it may not be as bigger issue, to cover your self would be if you scanned the whole certificate and used it within the book but if you are only going to quote number you got from Diggers BD & M remember they are covered by copyright laws. Regards, Ray. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jan" <janealogy@westnet.com.au> To: <AUS-MELBOURNE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 6:05 PM Subject: [AUS-MELB] HELP WITH PRIVACY ISSUES PLEASE > Hello everyone, > > I wonder if I could ask a question, particularly of the experts on this > list, regarding publishing personal details. > > I am on the verge of publishing my family history and over the years (as > have all of us) collected the birth, marriage, death, Will, education, > employment, divorce and adoption information, not to mention one or two > "secrets", of all my relatives. I am aware of the "etiquette" of not > publishing the personal information about living people, even if they have > given me their permission to do so. However, what I want to ask is this: > > Is it against the law to publish this information and, if so, what if I > have permission to publish by virtue of the fact I have been told the > information? > Do I have to get permission from every individual, or would a parent's > permission be acceptable for their children? > If I can't publish personal information, can I then publish photos of > these living people? > > I will be printing about a dozen copies only, half of which will go to the > U.K. and the other half to various States in Australia. > > I have seen some websites that just give the word "Living" when referring > to a family member but my personal opinion is that it is hardly worthwhile > including them if you can't at least give their first name, or sex. In > fact, what I had thought of doing to overcome the privacy thing, was just > to include first name and the year of an event that related to them, but > have decided just to put their first name only. Before doing so, however, > I thought I should check to see if someone has a definitive answer. > > Seems to me that after seven years of collecting, it's a real anti-climax > if I can't include the names of the hundreds of family members living. > What sort of boring family history is it that the first half is fully > detailed and interesting, and the second half just repeats the word > "Living"! > > All thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. > > Jan. > > > ==== AUS-MELBOURNE Mailing List ==== > ==================================================== > Virus warnings are not to be sent to the List! > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429