Genealogy Chat

We have been removed. :-D

Great news, Christina!

I am so pleased to hear that.


Did you contact GR about it??


There actually are laws in all countries re putting personal information of other living people on the internet .................. and the sites can be held responsible for breakdowns. That applies to both children and adults.

So, it was in GR's interest to remove the names.


Just keep watch that she does not re-post.


ancestry has a programme that automatically changes names to Private when there is a birth date within the last 120 years, but no death date.

GR I believe will respond to complaints about information born within the last 100 years


Posting a living person as either Living (as on GR) or Private (as on ancestry) does not mean that people searching for connections will not be able to find you or your tree. The names will show up in Tree Searches


But they cannot see anything else other than the name, and HAVE to contact you.

Thanks Sylvia.

No, I didn't have to contact GR. She did it herself.

But I certainly will follow your advice and watch that she doesn't re-post.

Interestingly there are no laws in the UK which specifically prevent personal information appearing on the internet, which is why it is such a grey area.

There is often a misconception that the Data Protection Act would cover this sort of situation as surely it is concerned with maintaining confidentiality? Reality is somewhat removed from this

The DPA is concerned with the 'Fair' use of personal data, which means that provided your data is used for reasonable and legal purposes there is no contravention of the law.

There is also another important part of the DPA, that of consent. If a person consents that their data can be used in a particular way, then the provisions of the DPA don't apply. Hence one of the reasons why GR ask members to obtain prior permission before recording details of living persons, and also offer to help remove details where this permission is not held.

If the member posting the details has permission then the matter is beyond doubt, if they don't have permission then even then it is always possible to claim that the information is for research purposes only which would also make it exempt from the provisions of the DPA.

Common sense dictates that it isn't a good idea to splash your information around, and GR advises members never to reveal or post personal information about yourself or others which you do not want to be visible to third parties.