Now lets not get too ridiculous here. Anything written in a newspaper is there for public consumption and in the case of obituaries, is often submitted by the relatives of the deceased. If they don't want this information made public, they have only to omit that information in their submission to the newspaper. Vince -------Original Message------- From: Evelyn Date: October 07, 2003 02:00:53 PM To: NFLD-LAB-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NFLD-LAB] IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - OBIT BAN Hi Matt; Thank you for the kind warning!! as for my contributions of the "Obituaries & Birth Announcements", I DO have permission to post these, whether "The Telegram" asked the persons {living relatives} I can only assume that they would likewise obtain their consent. I can stop contributing these postings, not a problem at all for me!!, very strange indeed that I did not receive a warning from the Editor of the newspaper or a telephone call, as they do have my info. If this is the wish of the "List Owners" and other listers, not to post these topics any longer, feel free in contacting me. In any case, since this topic has gotten so overly heated, I would rather not hurt any lister's feelings and will with-hold any further postings of "Obits,. Birth Announcements" or any other topic. Have A Nice Evening Evelyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Mullaly" <2matt@rogers.com> To: <NFLD-LAB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 5:01 PM Subject: [NFLD-LAB] IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - OBIT BAN > > Have you listers heard about the OBIT ban just announced? > > As of now, not only is it forbidden to REPOST published obits ( that means > you Evelyn, and Ivy and Bill) but it's also verboten to even READ them in > the first place. > > The purpose of the ban is to protect the privacy of the deceased as well as > their family.This makes a lot of sense to me as they're the ones who pay for > the publication of the obits in the first place. > > Assuming that there's always people out there who don't have proper > respect for the dead and who would perhaps cheat on this ban and read the > published obits anyway I gather that there's a move afoot to publish future > obits in an encrypted format. That would preclude anyone not having the > decryption key from reading these death announcements. Such decoding keys > would only be held by the immediate family, the RCMP, CSIS and certain > chartered banks. > > So a warning to listowners Sue and Vera: If you don't want to offend the > sensibilities of these folks and perhaps even incur their wrath in the form > of a lawsuit, I'd suggest that you institute a rule forbidding the mention > of any specific person (living or dead) on the lists - starting > immediately. > > I appreciate that this would perhaps somewhat limit the value of the lists > but perhaps this could be compensated for by more emphasis on living people. > And names are not really necessary. > > For example, genealogy software companies, well known for being ahead of > their time, must have been aware of the possibility of this ban because, in > the past few years, I've been sent genealogy files by various people with > portions that look like this: > > > DESCENDANTS OF JOHN SMITH > > > 1 - John SMITH b: 1900 d: 1980 > + Mary JONES b: 1905 d: 1990 > > 2 - Living > + Living > > 3 - Living > + Living > > Just think how simple it will be when whole trees look like this with no > mention of people's names or relevant dates or places at all. That'll make > future research a snap. I can hardly wait. > > Regards to all. > > Matt > > (whooooops!) > > Change that to: > > Living > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ==== NFLD-LAB Mailing List ==== > Roll Call Page for Nfld-Lab Mail List: > http://amoose4.tripod.com/ > > ==== NFLD-LAB Mailing List ==== Message Boards For All Areas of Newfoundland http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.canada newfoundland .

Vince, As I stated, similar to the recent ban on taking photos of headstones, another new "rule" is ABSOLUTELY NO READING of obits in the newspaper unless you were very close to the deceased. Those notices are published and paid for by the surviving relatives and the reading of them by "outsiders" is now considered an invasion of privacy. Rather than invade some dead person's privacy, it's better to skip the obit section altogether and go to sports section or the comics or Dear Abby. Whatever you do, DON'T READ STRANGERS' OBITS. Of course you can read an announcement of the death of a really close family member - mother or father or whatever. Indeed, you may even want to attend their funeral. You can usually get a feel as to whether an obit relates to a close relative by looking at the name at the beginning of the announcement. I'll keep watching this situation and will keep the list advised. Matt > Now lets not get too ridiculous here. Anything written in a newspaper is > there for public consumption and in the case of obituaries, is often > submitted by the relatives of the deceased. If they don't want this > information made public, they have only to omit that information in their > submission to the newspaper. > > Vince >

This sounds like a very bad or even worse, a sad College Fraternity joke. Besides being asinine, what controls would any one person or entity have over anyone else reading any printed matter,(with the exception of a copyright) regardless of who paid for it. Matt. I think you need to state your sources for this "rule" and official document to such a ridiculous statement. ( an include the source of the photo ban "rule" too.) Edd S. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Mullaly" <2matt@rogers.com> To: <NFLD-LAB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 8:34 PM Subject: Re: [NFLD-LAB] IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - OBIT BAN > Vince, > > As I stated, similar to the recent ban on taking photos of headstones, > another new "rule" is ABSOLUTELY NO READING of obits in the newspaper > unless you were very close to the deceased. Those notices are published and > paid for by the surviving relatives and the reading of them by "outsiders" > is now considered an invasion of privacy. > > Rather than invade some dead person's privacy, it's better to skip the obit > section altogether and go to sports section or the comics or Dear Abby. > Whatever you do, DON'T READ STRANGERS' OBITS. Of course you can read an > announcement of the death of a really close family member - mother or > father or whatever. Indeed, you may even want to attend their funeral. You > can usually get a feel as to whether an obit relates to a close relative by > looking at the name at the beginning of the announcement. > > I'll keep watching this situation and will keep the list advised. > > Matt > > > > > Now lets not get too ridiculous here. Anything written in a newspaper is > > there for public consumption and in the case of obituaries, is often > > submitted by the relatives of the deceased. If they don't want this > > information made public, they have only to omit that information in their > > submission to the newspaper. > > > > Vince > > > > > ==== NFLD-LAB Mailing List ==== > Co-List Admins of Nfld-Lab mail list: > Vera Short : short9647@rogers.com > Glynn Hewlett: glynn.hewlett@sympatico.ca --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.522 / Virus Database: 320 - Release Date: 09/29/2003