I got this from another site, but thought this would be good advice! -----Original Message----- From: Jane Matherly <jmather@swva.net> To: VAFLOYD-L@rootsweb.com <VAFLOYD-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 20, 1999 9:44 AM Subject: [dehart] Some Excellent Food for Thought...... >Received this from another mailing list, "The DeHart's." > Jane > > >X-POP3-Rcpt: jmather@ctc >>From: RAGLADY@aol.com >>Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:19:38 EST >>To: dehart@onelist.com >>X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 9 >>Mailing-List: list dehart@onelist.com; contact dehart-owner@onelist.com >>Delivered-To: mailing list dehart@onelist.com >>List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:dehart-unsubscribe@ONElist.com> >>Reply-to: dehart@onelist.com >>Subject: [dehart] Some Excellent Food for Thought...... >> >>From: RAGLADY@aol.com >> >>Hi >>The article below should be read by everyone involved in sharing information, >>exchanging files, etc. It ran in today's Missing Links. >>Gloria >>******************* >> >>Taken from: Missing Links, Vol. 4, No. 12 >> >>WELDING LINKS: PRIVACY ISSUES IN GENEALOGY >> >> by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG <myravg@prodigy.net> >> <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~gormleym/> >> >>Privacy. Everyone wants theirs respected, but are you invading that of >others? >> >>Technology enables us to share genealogical information easily and quickly >via >>e-mail, mailing lists, chat rooms, bulletin boards, Newsgroups, GEDCOMs, CDs, >>and Web sites, but it has created a monster. In our eagerness to obtain >and to >>share >>information about our families we are forgetting that our living family >>members have a right to privacy. We should obtain their permission before >>sharing any information about them with others -- in any format via any >means. >> >>One researcher reports, "In just one file that I downloaded . . . I found >more >>than 200 names of persons born within the last 70 years . . . " >> >>Another notes, "I was shocked and dismayed to find that someone had copied my >>entire GEDCOM and put it up on their Web site. While I have no objection to >>anyone using my dead ancestors, this person had included the living as well, >>right down to my six-year-old niece." >> >>In preparing a talk for my local genealogical society on this subject, I >>searched a number of home pages. At one I found the names of everyone in the >>family, when and where born, right on down to a month-old-grandson -- >>including the hospital in which >>he was born. >> >>Some genealogists have written to me claiming it does not matter what we put >>up on the Web since "this information is all public information, anyway." >When >>I queried several of them to provide the source of birth information >posted on >>their home pages, it turns out in every instance that the data were either >>supplied by a cousin or they obtained it from a GEDCOM. In other words, they >>had not found the information from a public source at all. >> >>The following policy is posted at "Don't Mess with the Living, Texas" >><http://home.sprynet.com/~harrisfarm/warning.htm>: >> >>"It is the policy of the Texas GenWeb Project to protect the rights and >>privacy of our living relatives. We strongly encourage all involved to do >>their best not to place information on the Internet about anyone who is still >>living, unless you have their >>express permission to do so." >> >>Among the suggestions for ways to protect living family members are: >>-- When requesting information (via e-mail, chat, queries, etc.) do not >>include personal information on living persons. >> >>-- When responding to requests for information, especially to someone you >>really do not know, do not provide them with personal information on living >>persons. They could post it on the Web or do who knows what else with it. >> >>-- Before sharing GEDCOM files with others, remove information on all living >>persons. Programs such as GEDClean, GEDLiving, and GEDPrivy will do this for >>you. >> >>-- If you have a genealogy Web site, be sure to removeinformation on all >>living persons. (Cyndi's Genealogy Home Page Construction Kit >><http://www.cyndislist.com/construc.htm> >> has tips and links to the GEDCOM utility programs that will exclude >>information about the living.) >> >>British genealogists are using the "GEN100" logo to signify that their Web >>site respects a cut-off date of 100 years, and to advise that information >>which is less than 100 years old will not be divulged. Many Americans use >1920 >>as the cut-off point, since that is the most recent census available to the >>public. >> >>There is an excellent article by Candace L. Doriott on this subject in the >>recent issue of "Genealogical Computing." (Winter 1999, Vol. 18, No. 3). >It is >>entitled 'Competing Values: Privacy Issues in Genealogy." Subscription >>information to this periodical >>can be found at Ancestry's Web site: <http://www.ancestry.com/> >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>Did you know that we have over 85,000 e-mail communities at Onelist? >>http://www.onelist.com >>Come visit our new web site and explore a new interest >> >> > >