Privacy on BG

[elizabethjones1]

Just a thought but have just put into Google one of my research surnames and the town name really to see what came up as you never know and one of my BG postings came up on the search with my photo.That is fine but it does occur to me and this is something that I am guilty of ! that if we put in a lot of personal info,like how we are related etc are we laying ourselves open slightly or am I being a tad paranoid?:

[Peter_uk_can]

Very much a case of "Don't write it = Don't read it"

Any text, anywhere on a website has the possibility of being read.

Spiders crawl this and all other forums on a regular basis.

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

[elizabethjones1]

Yes Peter you are absolutely right and I guess that the right word formula would have to be put into Google I think that my first reaction was Oh that's me|blush|I like the cute bows idea|blush|eliza

[v.wells]

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

My imagination is running wild Peter!|jumphappy

[Mike_E]

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

Thank God for that, I thought it was just me!:D

[Browneyes]

|needpics| It's the bows I'm interested in.

Browneyes

[Peter_uk_can]

It is strictly on a pay-per-view basis. Let me know what you can afford and I will tell you what it will cost.

[Browneyes]

|laugh1| Unfortunately my budget is spoken for sorry. Presumably future geneologists in your family will look upon you...and MikeJ (in the nicest possible way of course) as very colourful people with slight eccentricities. :D

On a serious note..I do agree about privacy and being very careful about what information you put on the internet. There are some very curious and 'naughty' people in this world...hence for example that 'orrible stuff called spam.

Browneyes

[Guy Etchells]

Totally paranoid.
There is nothing private about birth, marriage or death information or relationships.

If you really wish to be paranoid consider that if and when ID cards are issued it will be totally impossible to clear ones name if and when that ID card is cloned or forged by criminals.
Sweet dreams.
Cheers
Guy

[MarkJ]

Totally paranoid.
There is nothing private about birth, marriage or death information or relationships.

Cheers
Guy

Indeed not Guy :( One only has to take a peek at one of the sites which give BMD details up to the turn of this century to realise this. My own birth, wedding and the births of both my daughters are freely (well, for the subscription price) available.
It would be trivial to "become" me, or any other person by getting hold of the relevant certificates and using some basic social engineering techniques. Yes, it shouldn't be possible to pass oneself off as another, but you would be shocked how easy it is.
Until you actually need to deal with your bank via the phone, or the Revenue or other organisations who use the Data Protection Act as an excuse to do nothing that is.... ;)

Mark

[Peter_uk_can]

I don't care who becomes me as long as long as they keep paying the mortgage.

Someone cloned my wife's credit card a year or so back, but I don't care 'cos whoever it is, spends much less than my wife did when she had it.

[Clive Blackaby]

Until you actually need to deal with your bank via the phone, or the Revenue or other organisations who use the Data Protection Act as an excuse to do nothing that is.... ;)

Mark
Hmmm yes, that touches a nerve. Having spent half an hour on the phone convincing Abbey that I am me, only to get cut off and then go through the whole thing again, I'm now wondering how to convince the revenue men that they seem to have cloned me - I am apparently two people with the same name, address, d.o.b. and NI number ???

[jeanettemarie]

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

I think this must paint a pretty picture:eek:

I have had a good laugh at the answers to this question, but if somebody is determined to clone us they will, I just hope the one who might clone me puts some money in my bank account to convince people who they are|biggrin||biggrin|

[apehangmom]

Very much a case of "Don't write it = Don't read it"

Any text, anywhere on a website has the possibility of being read.

Spiders crawl this and all other forums on a regular basis.

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

ahahahhahahhahahahahhahhhhhaaaaaaaahahahhahahahahh ahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahah haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahllllloooooooooollahahhahahahhaha hahahaaaaaaaa OKay yes that was cute. I need light humor on some days... hahhahah

[apehangmom]

Yeah I didnt think of the pay sites who will go unmentioned but they start with an A.. and a G and some versions only cover the UK. lol .. But do they have our info as public knowledge( meaning our address , how much we paid in taxes and where we last worked... ? Or did my brother or cousin enter my info?
I know that some folks were mad at MSN Maps being too ah close for comfort.. one map viewing was really close to the front of the home and you could see the people in it. lol .. or their license tag.. But .. sadly for us.. some of the free information has helped us find lost loved cousins.. and our own family. I guess that if you do a google on your self depending on where you live .. stuff is going to come up... How we can stop that is another question. thanks chris

[Peter_uk_can]

Chris asks... "How we can stop that is another question"

I believe that there is little use in trying to close the stable door now.

The first horses have now not only gone but are probably grandparents themselves.

[davidfowler]

Elizabeth
I've just Googled me and found the following interesting facts. I'm one or all of the following:

the band’s talented Mandolin player
is the landlord of the Welsh Harp pub
Prof David Fowler Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
David Fowler is currently Science Director for Biogeochemistry
a member of the London Mathematical Society
President David Fowler, FACT's president, grew up in Chattanooga
David Fowler is Course Team Leader
Professor of Social Psychiatry and Consultant Clinical Psychologist
David Fowler. Orchestral Conductor
Professor David Fowler. David lives in Boggs Holdings, Pencaitland
David fowler senior software development consultant
David Fowler may refer to:. David Fowler (politician) • David Fowler (mathematician)

I can assure you that I'm not! So, Elizabeth, you must be a much more interesting person than me!
Still, on a serious note, as someone has already pointed out, we live in this sort of society and technology now. Don't put TOO much personal info. about yourself anywhere.

I'm off to do an MSN search now!

David Fowler - the least interesting one.

[Guy Etchells]

I am sorry but this thread shows to me that people just don't understand what privacy or private information is.

Nothing written on a public forum can by the very nature of a public forum be private.
Cheers
Guy

[Peter_uk_can]

I totally agree with Guy's comments on this.

If we subscribe to forums, message boards, create websites and generally spray our names and details around like confetti, why should it be a suprise when we have a presence on the internet.

Genealogists are constantly using search engines like "Google" to find people. To be able to find anyone and everyone except for ourselves is a contradiction in terms that should not require debate.

|nopity|

[jeanettemarie]

I totally agree with Guy's comments on this.

If we subscribe to forums, message boards, create websites and generally spray our names and details around like confetti, why should it be a suprise when we have a presence on the internet.

Genealogists are constantly using search engines like "Google" to find people. To be able to find anyone and everyone except for ourselves is a contradiction in terms that should not require debate.

|nopity|

Wll said, I totally agree
Jeanette

[Creighton]

I shall not be getting an ID card on the grounds that with my ancestry debacle - I haven't a clue who I am now!

[helena869]

I got excited a few weeks ago when searching for one of my people and came across a message board with someone in 1999 looking for the same person.

Then I looked at their sig line and it was something I'd posted myself!!! :D:D:D

On a more serious note I've just discovered my niece's presence on a particular site and although most of the living members of the family she has uploaded are "private", some are not. My husband is, but even so neither of us has any idea who she is allowing to view the information or indeed what information she has put on about him, and I'm a bit annoyed that she didn't ask his permission first.

So, it's not just a case of googling and finding something you've posted yourself, you may well search and find someone else has, without permission, uploaded your info onto their own tree.

[Guy Etchells]

There is nothing wrong with displaying details of living people on family history websites.
That is simply an extension of what all good family historians have been doing for centuries.

The law even exempts family historians from the Data Protection Act and the Data Commissioner (the person who polices the DPA specifically stated that family historians could post detail of living people on their websites.

Thankfully we still live in the vestage of a democracy where the police state is almost held in bay.

Sorry if this upsets anyone but censorship of family history sites is a sore point with me.
Cheers
Guy

[v.wells]

There is nothing wrong with displaying details of living people on family history websites.
That is simply an extension of what all good family historians have been doing for centuries.

The law even exempts family historians from the Data Protection Act and the Data Commissioner (the person who polices the DPA specifically stated that family historians could post detail of living people on their websites.

Thankfully we still live in the vestage of a democracy where the police state is almost held in bay.

Sorry if this upsets anyone but censorship of family history sites is a sore point with me.
Cheers
Guy

I agree with you Guy:) Although I have a private tree on a certain site it is my main working tree so is always undergoing changes. My public tree is on another site with all people named except those under 18 and they are marked as living. Fortunately there aren't too many of them.

My sister can't get it around her brain why if I can find people why they haven't found us. I keep telling her unless you're looking you won't find anyone. My own website is password protected which may change - I have to ask my new found cousins what they would like me to do.:D

It's the posting of "username witheld" and no way of contacting them really ticks me off! That is rude plain and simple!

[MarkJ]

There is nothing wrong with displaying details of living people on family history websites.
That is simply an extension of what all good family historians have been doing for centuries.

The law even exempts family historians from the Data Protection Act and the Data Commissioner (the person who polices the DPA specifically stated that family historians could post detail of living people on their websites.

Thankfully we still live in the vestage of a democracy where the police state is almost held in bay.

Sorry if this upsets anyone but censorship of family history sites is a sore point with me.
Cheers
Guy

As always, a very interesting post Guy. Presumably the same rules would apply to something like a gravestone transcription from a churchyard? Or does that not fall into the DPA exemption because it is perhaps not specifically "genealogy"?
I transcribed the headstone details from a cemetery a while ago, but didn't place the transcriptions online because a few of them were relatively recent (1940s and 50s - with one from the 1990s).
Although I have never seen any official reasoning for it, the general consencus always seems to be 100 years as a cutoff point for placing details online.

Mark

[ash33au]

Other than myself, my parents, partner and children, I generally don't have the personal details of living relatives on my website. You never know who will get the sh**s over something so small

[BrendaE]

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|[/QUOTE]

I can truly say I have had more laughs since joining B-G than ever before. Wot a lotta wits!

Bren

[Guy Etchells]

As always, a very interesting post Guy. Presumably the same rules would apply to something like a gravestone transcription from a churchyard? Or does that not fall into the DPA exemption because it is perhaps not specifically "genealogy"?
I transcribed the headstone details from a cemetery a while ago, but didn't place the transcriptions online because a few of them were relatively recent (1940s and 50s - with one from the 1990s).
Although I have never seen any official reasoning for it, the general consencus always seems to be 100 years as a cutoff point for placing details online.

Mark

I would advise everyone to place details of recent burials on line.

When I photographed and transcribed Staincross churchyard I worried about that very question as there was a funeral taking place on one of the days I was there.
In the end I decided to include all the burials even new ones.

I received emails of thanks from other parts of the UK, Australia, Canada, USA etc. etc.
I was surprised at the number of times people emailed to say my site enabled them to visit the grave of a loved one which they would otherwise not be able to visit.
http://tinyurl.com/6yexb6
Cheers
Guy

[BrendaE]

Thanks to my being googled, a descendant of my great grandmother's sister found me and I discovered a huge amount about my previously unknown ancestors and have found other kin all over the world. I'm thrilled. Google me any time, I say.

Bren

[MarkJ]

Thanks for the info Guy. I shall have a look into placing my other lot of headstones online as well I think. I doubt anyone would object - the most recent being the 1990s as I mentioned - and he was a churchwarden and anyone in the village would know when and where he was buried anyway.
To be honest, anyone can walk into a graveyard and see the headstones there for themselves at any time so I cannot really see any problem - we are simply making it easier for those who do not live in the local vicinity to view the details.

Mark

[beachbaby]

Very much a case of "Don't write it = Don't read it"

Any text, anywhere on a website has the possibility of being read.

Spiders crawl this and all other forums on a regular basis.

It is for this reason that I continually refuse to publish the fact that my prefered night time attire is silk and pink (with cute little bows) |woohoo|

Any pictures available?

[Peter_uk_can]

Any pictures available?

Coincidently, some of the guys on here have asked the same question... :D

[beachbaby]

:D

I love this site!!

Teri

[ash33au]

Coincidently, some of the guys on here have asked the same question... :D

I can promise I won't be one of them |laugh1| |laugh1| |laugh1|

[dawn/karen]

in reading this thread the thought occured to me, does gro hold records of just who is asking for individuals records? perhaps they should?

[Guy Etchells]

Why?

They have to supply a copy of any certificate paid for no matter what the purpose.
I could apply to the GRO for a birth certificate and tell them I needed it to impersonate that person. They would still have to supply me with the certificate, they have no choice in the matter.

If they did keep a recprd of who applied for what certificate they could not pass that information on to another researcher as that would breach the Data Protection Act.
So you see there is no reason for them to keep a note of who applies for what.
Cheers
Guy

[Archives]

As always, a very interesting post Guy. Presumably the same rules would apply to something like a gravestone transcription from a churchyard? Or does that not fall into the DPA exemption because it is perhaps not specifically "genealogy"?
I transcribed the headstone details from a cemetery a while ago, but didn't place the transcriptions online because a few of them were relatively recent (1940s and 50s - with one from the 1990s).
Although I have never seen any official reasoning for it, the general consencus always seems to be 100 years as a cutoff point for placing details online.

Mark
I didn't think dead people counted under the DPA because they're dead.