Should we reduce our privacy rule from a firm 100 year rule to something a little bit more flexible without becoming too complex to manage (such as maybe a 75 year rule)?
Any if so to how would you define it in no more than 1-3 SHORT bullet points that are each no more than 1-2 lines?
Our existing policy in help is:
Please note: You must not include here in any circumstances information (including name, date and place of birth or any other details) that would allow identification of any living (or possibly) living individual by somebody reading this site. In practice, this means details about anyone born in the last 100 years, whether they are believed to be deceased or not, and whether or not they have given their permission.
How to ask questions about ancestors born less than 100 years ago Our privacy policy is designed to prevent "identification of any living (or possibly living) individual by somebody reading this site" and is not intended to prevent you asking questions that may relate to someone born during the past 100 years. However, to ask such questions we ask you to proceed cautiously.
If you already know that your relative was born more than 100 years ago, simply by stating that means that the privacy policy will not apply so that you can provide details freely. Including the name, date and place of birth, etc is fine and usually very helpful. If you already know (or suspect) that your ancestor was born less than 100 years ago, and you know that they are dead, then you may include identification details such as name, date and place of birth, etc., but you must also provide evidence to us that they are dead. If you know (or suspect) that your ancestor is still alive, then under no circumstances should such identification details be included. Acceptable evidence of death needs to come from some official or semi-official source such as an entry on a death-registration / grave / cemetery / obituary site. A website link (URL) should be provided wherever possible. Regrettably personal recollection is not sufficient to show that we have done our best to protect people's privacy.
If you are in any doubt as to whether your evidence of death would stand up, then hold back the identifying details, and describe the type of evidence so that other users can help you assess it via comments.
The figure of 100 years has been chosen as a "best-fit" with policies across the globe.
Part of the reason is I think while respecting privacy we deter people with legitimate questions from participating as well as make questions very difficult to answer when personal information is redacted. We also broadly assume people are alive if born in the last 100 years even though they may be long deceased.
Some things to consider to put out there, but not taking a particular position in the question itself.
- Blogger Dick Eastman's Quote:
- " In the U.S. and Canada, there is no restriction on publishing dates and places of birth, marriage, and similar facts online. Such facts are considered to be public domain, not private. Publishing such information is not an invasion of privacy in North America nor in most other English-speaking countries. However, European countries have a number of such restrictions."
- "In short, genealogists shouldn't worry much about privacy laws but perhaps should be guided by common sense and respect for their families' preferences."
- A lot of information is publicly available via Ancestry.com, Social Security Death Index, WhitePages.com, FindAGrave.com, etc that we will effectively kill a question for referencing a potentially live person in the 100 year timeframe today.
- The timeframes in many states is much less than 100 years for most things other than a birth certificate.
-In some states like Illinois it is only 75 years for a birth certificate.
- In some US states anyone can request a death certificate for anyone that is deceased, even recently.
- Some countries publish tax returns for everyone with a lot of information and where someone lives or in the US is generally a matter of public record.
- A lot of people are just starting and what they have to work with is the 100 year timeframe.
- The National Genealogical Society doesn't have a specific guideline that I can find.
- Some countries have 100 year.
- I did not immediately find anything in Board Certified Genealogist on specific timeframes; just guidelines for privacy.