Ann. I apologize if my note in answer to this came across as critical of you. I did not mean that in any sense. I was just trying to comment that a good genealogist wouldn't take unknown information at pure face value, but would try to research it. Especially before passing it on. I am sorry if it appeared that I was criticizing you. I think it is an important notice and I thank you for sharing it with us. Barbara Ann Wilmer wrote: >Deseret Morning News, Saturday, November 12, 2005 > >Fake family trees online may trip up genealogists >By Lee Davidson >Deseret Morning News > >Genealogists beware. > >A software company is marketing a new program to Internet advertisers that >could quickly generate Web sites full of extensive, but fake, family trees. > >Critics say the approach appears to be part of a new money-making scheme to >lure people who search for family names on Google, Yahoo or other search >engines to Web sites that use bogus data to help ensure they appear high on >"hit lists." They then make money if visitors click on advertisers' links. > >They worry that novices might download false information that is designed to >look real, and then corrupt others' family trees if they share that bad data >online or through family history databases such as those offered by The >Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the commercial Utah-based >Ancestry.com > >However, Don Harrold, co-creator of a program called "Fake Family," which he >sells for $75, says data it produces has "absolutely zero chance" of >matching any real person or family. He says he has offered the program to >fewer than 30 self-described Internet advertisers, so its use is not >widespread, and he has not made money on it. > >Why make it then? "Why not? I enjoy trying to find ways to create computer >simulations of organic life," Harrold told the Deseret Morning News. > >But online chat groups of both genealogists and Internet advertisers are >buzzing about what the new program could do to genealogical research, and >why Harrold is marketing it, even if, as he says, to a small group. > >Dan Eastman, author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, wrote this >past week that he believes Harrold "wants to flood the Internet with bogus >genealogy material, all for the purpose of making easy money." > >Online information that Harrold wrote says his product can "create thousands >of pages of unique . . . content with almost no effort. Neither humans nor >search engines will be able to tell whether the content is 'real' or >'generated.' " > >How could that make money? > >Josh Anderson, an Internet advertiser from Idaho, who also is a genealogist >concerned about the product, explains Web hosts can program their sites to >display "sponsored links." Advertisers pay search engines to have these >appear on screen whenever certain key words such as "genealogy" are part of >a search. > >When such links are clicked by a visitor, the Web site host and search >engine company split revenue from an advertiser. (Of course, Web sites can >also offer other forms of advertising.) > >"It can be a very profitable source of income. Some people make millions of >dollars a year doing it," Anderson said. "The whole purpose (of Fake >Family-style sites) is to trick the search engine, so they get a top listing >for some search words" to attract more visitors and potentially more >revenue-producing mouse clicks. > >Search engine companies say they hunt for and remove from listings any sites >that are bogus or that scrape content from other sites merely to act as a >vehicle to carry advertiser links. > >But Fake Family boasts in written information that it can fool search >engines. It does not merely produce lists of random names, but links them >generation-to-generation with bogus birth, marriage and death dates and >places. > >It adds that its randomly generated names "are era-specific," meaning you >will get more names such as Orville and Bertha in the 1880s than the 1980s. >Infant mortality, marriage rates and migration data is also encoded, and >more. It's the rich family "experience" that Fake Family provides that is >significant and makes the output stunning in its ability to look real to >humans. > >Internet advertisers helped the Deseret Morning News identify a few >genealogy sites that appeared to contain only bogus information, along with >plenty of advertiser links. Harrold, however, said he only knows of one >generated by Fake Family (even though he said in written information that he >has "monetized" several family history sites). > >"This is scary to me," said Mindy Koch, an Internet advertiser from North >Carolina and an avid genealogist. "There is a great chance that a novice >could think this is real. If they download it, and then later upload it into >repositories like (the LDS Church's) Ancestral File, those databases would >include lots of people who never existed." > >Also, she added that it potentially could make search engines more difficult >to use for genealogy if bogus sites slow them or account for all the "top >hits." > >Harrold says such threats are imagined and not real. He said the chances of >randomly selected first and last names, coupled with randomly selected >places and dates, being shown as married to the same persons as people who >actually lived "are not just slim, they are nonexistent." > >He said if someone still mistook such information as real and downloaded it, >"that's their fault." He adds, "If you want real family information, why are >you not looking at Census records? If you're not paying for it, and I didn't >ask you to take it, and the name and date don't match your family tree, why >are you taking this information? Any onus is on the people who take this >information." > >Some in genealogy chat groups, however, complained that a name that looks >even roughly plausible could be mistaken as real by a novice, or cause even >a genealogy expert to spend a lot of time and money to eliminate the >possibility it is the person for whom they are seeking. > >"Boo hoo," Harrold told the Morning News in response to such complaints. He >said "the real story" is how Google and other search engines do not verify >content they seek and guide others to for profit. He said databases by the >LDS Church and Ancestry.com also contain some incorrect information >submitted by patrons. His obviously false data creates less threat to >genealogy research than they do, he said. > >Harrold suggested in chat groups that he might sue people who referred to >his work as a "scam." He also warned the Morning News to be careful what it >said about him. > >In turn, makers of the Legacy Family Tree software threatened to sue Harrold >if he did not remove from his Web site instructions about how to download >free software from them that could assist the Fake Family program. > >Meanwhile, Mary Kay Evans, spokeswoman for Ancestry.com, a Utah company >that, as part of its service, offers a large database of names, said, "It is >so unfortunate that there are predators on the Web who target people >interested in their genealogy. Genealogy is such a popular hobby that >predators are moving to take advantage of that." > >Evans, as well as many genealogists and even Harrold himself, urges >genealogists to verify carefully all sources of information in genealogy, >especially any obtained online from people they do not know. "That is a >primary role of Ancestry.com, to help people see source records," Evans >said. > >Anderson, who operates a small family Web site, also encourages genealogists >to actually talk to people operating such sites and ask for all source >information. > >http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635160683,00.html > > > >==== PALEBANO Mailing List ==== >Mid-Atlantic Roots Network: ><http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/> > > > >