Permission from relatives to display details

[jeremyf]

I am curious as to peoples views on obtaining relatives permission to display basic details in a published family tree. It would appear that it is the proper thing to do, particularly to avoid upsetting people, but all this information is in the public domain, usually at the local library.

One reason for asking is that with a little bit of educated guess work, and a deep pocket, you could start with a relative in 1900 and work forward building a tree of likely and certain relatives. These will be people who I don't know and living somewhere in the world but should I show there details (eg name, date of birth and marriage and childrens names) on a web site? If I only publish "living" then the information is no use to anyone else and will not help achieve one aim of allowing others to form links to the family.

Jeremy

[Ladkyis]

I thought that it was the living that the data protection act was there to protect and that we could publish about the dead but not the living - at least not without permission.

Ann

[Mythology]

To the best of my knowledge, what Guy Etchells said in this earlier thread (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8250&highlight=personal+details) is correct - basically, if you want to run the risk of upsetting people who *think* that their details are private, there is nothing in law to stop you, though personally I would not do so.

Quite apart from the fact that I would consider it rather bad manners to do so without the person's express permission, there is the hassle aspect to think about. If somebody complains to your web host, there is a good chance that they will not sit there reading your entire site to see whether or not there is actually anything in it which contravenes the law. Rather than run the risk of facing legal action, they are quite likely to simply take your site down, then *you* will have the hassle of proving to them that you are *not* acting illegally.

[Guy Etchells]

If any ISP did that they would be acting illegally and would then face legal action. Try telling 1837 online; Ancestry.co.uk; FreeBMD, and all the other sites that host the GRO index to take your details offline.

Thankfully Big Brother is still only a TV show and we are allowed to enjoy the freedoms our ancestors gave their lives to uphold.

The DPA is basically their to prevent large companies from interfering with the rights of the individual by holding false or misleading information on them.
It is nothing to do with privacy.

It is a modern notion whipped up by certain paranoid groups that publication of the details of living people requires permission first.

Do you assume that biographers ask permission to publish the life stories of their subjects? No.
Do newspapers? No.
Do TV companies? No, it is not required.

It is certainly considered good etiquette to give a copy of a finished work to those it concerns but there is no call to ask permission prior to publication. Though private details phone number, email address etc.) should not be published in any form.
Cheers
Guy

[jeremyf]

Some interesting comments, including the earlier thread Mythology mentioned.

The problem as I see it is that I now have a list of over 200 possible living relatives. I could now spend a lot of time trying to trace their addresses and write to them to obtain permission to put their basic details, which are widely available in a number of places, into a tree. This would consume a lot of valuable time.

It is interesting that people use Genes Reunited to trace missing relatives and yet hide the details of all the living relatives. These details could be important in allowing somone to find you. When I started in the search I knew little about my family except for living relatives.

Jeremy

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

It is interesting that people use GenesReunited to trace missing relatives and yet hide the details of all the living relatives. These details could be important in allowing somone to find you. When I started in the search I knew little about my family except for living relatives.

Jeremy

Although a lot of people will use this site for the reason you state, there will still be others like me, who use it to make contact with others researching the same Families, just to exchange info in respect of Ancestors. They can 'find' me from the list of names I uploaded, if it's the same family, then their info will match mine. I have had more 'correct' contacts via GenesReunited than anywhere else! :)

My husband and I are both listed on there as Living Individuals with our correct years of birth, both being born *Somewhere* in England. I did upload my Tree as a gedcom with my correct details on it, as you know, you have to do that ...... but I changed my details with no problem. :D