From: Elizabeth Lindsay <[email protected]> > Unpleasant or uncomfortable as some things may be, the truth needs > to be told. Different people react differently so the important thing is > to know the facts. The more one hides the truth, the more possible it > is to spread fiction. > The idea of a "right to privacy" is a trait of the 20th century - > before then, no matter who you were, everyone in the village or the > neighbourhood knew all about you - good or bad. That was how the > social fabric operated. If you did the wrong thing, everyone would know and > you would have to face the consequences of their disapproval as well as > the statutory punishment. > > In the case of identity fraud, which is what many people are > concerned about nowdays, it is not really the BMD facts that are the problem, > but the everyday bills and letters that are used. > In Australia, we have a 100 point identity process - most points for > a passport, but one can also use household utility accounts to > establish an identity and these can be stolen from letter boxes any day of the > year. This happened to a distant relative of mine in the 1990's and > she explained that it was her daily routine and the everyday artifacts > from that routine that were watched, then stolen. > So added to Roy's warning about using your mother's maiden name, if > you are really concerned, don't follow the same routine every day and > put a lock on your letter box. > > As for the information in a tree that is made public, as long as > your tree is accurate and well-sourced, it really doesn't matter what > someone else does with it. Someone has taken large chunks of my ancestry > tree and attached them to another one with absolutely no connection > except that the name of one person is the same, even though their history > is not the same. Yes, it is annoying, but it just illustrates that one > always needs to check facts for oneself, not rely on others. For > example, when someone shows up in a Census in a different part of > the country - is it really likely that a 15 yo girl will leave her > family in Lancashire where there is plenty of work and her family are clothing > merchants, and go to Scotland where there is no work and she has no > relatives? > In the main, my public ancestry tree has enabled many people > throughout the world to know their family history and that is a great joy to me > because until my tree was made available, there was no well-researched > and well-sourced tree available. > > Cheers, > Elizabeth > Thank you, Elizabeth, for those common sense observations, which reinforced what I have been saying. What some prissy people cannot seem to get their head around is the plain and simple fact that a birthdate - mine, yours, anybody's - is NOT a state secret or the exclusive property of the person concerned. It's a matter of public record, accessible to all, quite rightly. Think of virtually any famous person you care to name and you will find their birthdate on the internet, often at Wikipedia, and having found that it is usually a relatively simple matter to trace their family history. I know the birth-date of Queen Elizabeth II, so why shouldn't she or anyone else know mine? It never ceases to amaze me that family historians, of all people, can complain about infringement of privacy! Family historians should be the very last people to advocate censorship. Sharing our family histories with others is what it's all about and anyone who doesn't believe that shouldn't be in the business at all. They'd be better off taking up some other hobby, like photography or Japanese flower arranging! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE