Genealogy Chat

Have any of us who have added information to this website read the Terms and Conditions? I hadn't until I saw a thread on the Devon Rootsweb mailing list the other day. Please see below for Item 15 and exercise caution! It is the last paragraph that is the most cause for concern. BUT PLEASE SEE THE ANCESTRAL VILLAGES THREAD POSTED BY THE SITE OPERATOR IN RESPONSE. Sue

Item 15 states: "15. Intellectual Property. You acknowledge that all copyright, trade marks, and other intellectual property rights in and relating to the Ancestral Villages Service (excluding the material which is contributed by Users) are owned by Ancestral Villages. By submitting any material to the content to the Ancestral Villages Service, you: - are representing that you are fully entitled to do so; - grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-terminable licence right to copy, modify, distribute, show in public and create derivative works from that material in any form, anywhere; and - authorise us to adapt the relevant material in the course of doing so, and so waive your moral rights to object to any derogatory treatment, or to be identified as the author, of the material in question." Sue

Dot That's the way I interpret it - and I didn't look either. It was a person on the Devon list who had obviously read the small print - and they certainly interpreted it that way. Thankfully I've put so little on that there's nothing for me to get het up about, but I may well delete in information in due course. It's a shame, because it seemed as if it would be a good site as more people added to it. Sue

HI, GC conditions allow them rights over the trees - that's why mine is so small. Nearly all Genealogy websites claim something similar. Gwynne

Gwynne I agree GC uses similar wording, but doesn't include the paragraph about adapting material and waiving moral rights etc. Sue

Hi Sue Thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't it read it either! Have removed all my info, since reading your message. I wonder if that is why there is so little info on that site? Debbie

I am also going to delete the information I put on. I wonder if that is why there have been no replies to messages I posted. Paul

I shall be deleting my info. My ancestors, both large and small belong to me and their ancestors not these b*st*rds. I am prepared to part with all the personal details I know about my ancestors to those who can claim ancestry, but these details belong to us. I hate to sound xenophobic, but is this secretly an American website? - Just thinking of all the funeral parlours in England that belong to an American conglomerate - Matthews for example.

has anyone asked them about this?

This may be a stupid question, but how do you remove your information from the site. Having read the agreement belatedly ( and if that isn't stupid I don't know what is?), I now want to delete my entries, but I don't see an edit or a delete button anywhere. In fact all I can do is log on and search for my village. After logging on it says your villages are listed at the bottom of the page. Well, mine isn't. I have to search for it each time. Did you also see item 10 which mentions a possible future fee. Since it seems they could also exclude you from use of Ancestral villages for non compliance with the agreement, you could not re-enter to retrieve your material. I really don't like the tone of this agreement.

I've just tried to get on to this site and keep getting 'Connection timed out' messages. It's a bit early in the day for that to happen! Strange! Sue

I just went and 'updated' all my info by simply erasing the info box by box - a bit laborious if you've entered a lot of info - depends how strongly you feel about the issue.

After reading Sue's message, I have also removed all my info from the site using Carole's "updating" method. At least, there weren't too many entries to "update". Terry

I looked at this site a few weeks ago and wondered why something that seemed to have such great potential was taking time to get going - now I know and I also won't be adding any info! Such a shame beceause it looked as if it was going to be a winner! Do you think the reason we dont sometimes read the small print is because it's not in 'plain english' - difficult to understand and you cannot proceed unless you agree to Terms and Conditions! Sue.

Hi All I've just been in and taken all mine off the site as well. Luckily the ones that I had entered were all in the same village so it didn't take too long. Kay

When you delete info, why don't you email them and let them know you are doing so because you object to Item 15 of their terms and conditions, and that you are spreading the word in the genealogical community? I'm not hopeful, but maybe if they start receiving 10 or 15 emails a day from ex-users, things will change.

Thanks for the tip Carol. I have now removed my information from that website. And thanks to Sue too for pointing out item 15. I shall spend a little time reading agreements in future.

What has been said about Gbenealogy sites passing on info got me thinking,,,,,,,,maybe this is why i get a lot of trash e-mails from 'people' who have surnames I am researching,When I open them they usually want me to buy Viagra,buy insurance, credit cards or have my penis enlarged, Anyone else found this? Claire ps--sorry for using the word penis,,,xx

These terms and conditions are very standard for publishing whether it is on the internet or on TV. I have seen these many times before. Generally a company buys a service, but would like the right to do what it wants with it afterwards. My only real concern is what they do with my e-mail address. Marcelo

Diana - You're not the only one who doesn't read Terms and Conditions. Someone suggested on this thread that it is perhaps because they're rarely in plain English. Personally it's because I make assumptions (which I obviously shouldn't) that no-one is going to try and get one over on me - too trusting, or what??? Lesson learned I think! Sue