Hi all, Margit's message is good news. Ironically, I wrote Brian Hansen from ancestry.com several weeks ago "begging" him to do something about the irresponsible habits of those who post living relatives on world.connect. I suggested the "One hundred year rule" (don't post the name of ANY person born within the last 100 years). When he responded in a personal e-mail, he claimed that my request for the 100-year rule was an unusual one since he hadn't heard of that before! (Where has HE been?!) I also asked him if there was any way that ancestry.com could delete outdated user-submitted GEDCOMS. (Many submitters update their GEDCOMS regularly, but fail to remove their previous ones.) He stated that the GECDOM submitters are responsible for removing older material. He also suggested I personally contact the submitter for such a request. (One such user has 8 revisions in her GEDCOM, dating back to August 2001. There are numerous errors in the older GEDCOMs, but her January 2003 version appears to be more truthful, at least on the part of my relatives.) I also pointed out to Brian the fact that the Internet has become an easy source for Identity-theft procurers. In his e-mail to me, he didn't address this subject. A few weeks ago, I ran across a GEDCOM that had "killed off" anyone born before 1930!! I wrote the submitter and told him that "so-and-so" and her husband were in fact alive and well, and living in Goodhue County! Please, if you are a GEDCOM submitter, be considerate of others in your postings. And try to be as accurate as possible (nothing worse than seeing your family's information incorrectly posted on some stranger's GEDCOM!) Here are some articles on Privacy/Sharing GEDCOMS: http://www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/share.htm http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comstandsharing.htm Happy hunting! Vickie in Minnesota In a message dated 3/28/03 10:47:28 PM, mbakke@eot.com writes: << Notice: If there is anyone who is not happy about their family information being online, contact the person at the end of the message and he will take care of it they say. I personally think they should go out at least 100 years, as most responsible genealogist's do. Margit Privacy Policy ‹ Living Filter A new privacy policy for user-submitted GEDCOM files to our WorldConnect Project was recently announced in the RootsWeb Review and is now being implemented. To promote privacy, the built-in filters at WorldConnect will be used to automatically remove information which pertains to any living person born after 1930. Given names and dates, places, notes, and sources pertaining to life events for such individuals will be hidden from display. Users may, at their discretion, login to their Advanced setup page and modify this setting, up to a maximum year of 1930. The primary reasons for the removal of living persons data are: A) Over the past several months we have been spending many, many hours each week dealing with complaints by living persons who are outraged that their personal information is listed in such a public place despite the fact that they have not given permission. Replacing first name with "LIVING" and scrubbing the notes, birthdates, etc. has eliminated almost all of those complaints and the costs associated with handling them. B) There is a growing identity theft problem in which devious people (not genealogists) look for just enough living person information on the internet (such as first name, last name, birthdate, and mother's maiden name) to then go pay other premium information providers for additional information on specific individuals (including social security number and other personal data which can be gathered if full name, birthdate, and mother's maiden name are known). They then use this data for the purpose of opening credit card accounts, creating fake ID's, and performing other activities which cause a variety of problems for the actual living person whose personal data has been stolen and improperly used. The Product Manager, Brian Hansen, will respond to any other questions or suggestions users may have. His phone number is 801-705-7092 and his e-mail address is bhansen@ancestry.com >>