Finally, at least one reason stands out amongst the others: " Does not an individual deserve the right of privacy, especially regarding their identity?" This has been an issue that the courts have been struggling with. Is just the name alone all that there is to an "identity" because just knowing a name is not identity theft. Identity theft is obtaining and fraudulently using a person's personal information for financial gain.
There are many acts that a person does throughout their lives to negate that expectation of privacy. If you register to vote, you gave up that right. If you own property, you gave up that right. If you have a telephone, you gave up that right. If you got married, you gave up that right. If you got divorced, you gave up that right. If you ever posted a message on the Internet, you gave up that right. If you own a firearm, you gave up that right. If you own a motor vehicle, you gave up that right (in some states). If you’re on Facebook, you gave up that right. This is not me stating an opinion but rather the way in which courts have ruled. So when a genealogist posts names of living people, he or she must have gleaned that information from some public document...birth record, marriage announcement, etc. If a genealogist must withhold names of living people, shouldn't newspapers and TV news also follow the same rules. Imagine how silly such news reports would sound: "A Living person today was arrested in Boston for assaulting a Living person and his wife, another Living person. According to Police Chief Living person, the accused Living person was arrested earlier this year for the burglary of the home of 3 other Living persons." Sounds quite silly doesn't it, yet that is exactly how many genealogy sites appear. I've even gotten a request to remove the name of a previous wife, since deceased. I guess he didn't want his family members or his current wife to know that he was married before. And the craziest one of all was a request to remove the names of a person's dead parents. Why? I haven't a clue. Both requests were denied. Not my mistake that he married the wrong person and not my mistake that he isn't proud of his parents. Change the public records and then I'll change my web sites. (Oh, I should add once again, that for these living persons only their names appear. I withhold all other personal information.) The bottom line: I think there is no clear cut rule here. If you are making your own genealogical web pages then do whatever you are comfortable with. But think about it for a long time first before you make that decision. Brian in CA -----Original Message----- From: Lee Bruch [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2012 11:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Question regarding website building Further, a practical and safety matter: In an ideal world there would not be identity theft. But it is getting relatively common. To have names associated with the family background is one of the strong tools a identity thief could use. Genealogy sites are known as one of the potential easy sources of private information. A thief could, of course, amass the info in other ways, but ... if one were to follow that logic, everything about a person, would be public because "if might be gotten elsewhere so why bother safeguarding it". And further, an ethical matter: Does not an individual deserve the right of privacy, especially regarding their identity? It seems to me as if the minimum one could do is to at least ask their permission before exposing their name on a public family tree. And even further, a legal matter: I don't know the law in all states nor nations. But it wouldn't surprise me if some nations, such as some countries in Western Europe had restrictions on that. Though again, I don't know Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
