Genealogy Chat

I have found myself on various online trees all owned by the same person.
Although the privacy settings are set to hidden/private, it is immaterial to me and all my living relatives who have been included.

I have contacted the individual on two occasions and have had no response although I know that he signs into his Ancestry acct on a daily basis.

My living family details are also found Search All Trees in GR.
He is the tree owner
When I contacted this person before and asked for removal, all he did in response to my request, was to stop my access to his GR tree.

I did NOT give him this information as it does not appear anywhere within my own trees.
I don't "hide" living people, I overtype all the detals with "Not Available" and therefore cannot be found on a GR search function and is not available to anyone who has access to my trees.
It is clear that he has paid a few visits to the GRO and found it for himself.

If I was to contact GR, ( or Ancestry) would they force him to remove the information under the T&Cs ?

GR clearly state that living people should only be in a persons tree if they give permission. They will take action if you request it.

Not sure whether that applies to Ancestry though.

Thanks KenSE,
I contacted the individual again today and if it's not removed by the end of the week, I will contact GR.

I really feel that our personal security is being compromised.

When this man first made contact with me, he temporarily lifted the privacy settings to allow me to see his tree in all it's glory
I was horrified by the amount of data held on living people!

problem is .........

.......... if he did not obtain the information from you, then he obtained it either from someone else, or from records available on the internet



GR does have a policy that information on all people born within the alst 120 years should be hidden


Ancestry did have a policy of automatically hiding anyone with a birth date within the last 100 years but no death date shown.

GR does have a policy where all people born within last 120 years should be hidden.
Howevever, a tree owner has the option to open the tree to others allowing them to see it in full.
Whether an individual is hidden or not, they will still be found on Search All Trees.

Ancestry will automatically hide living people but, a tree owner still has the option to share and show living people.

This is my real issue.
How many other people has had access to this

I know the tree owner makes visits to the GRO in Edinburgh, because he told me.
Anyone can spend day at one of the 3 Scotlands People Centres.
All records, even the most recent can be viewed.
It's extremely easy to find current BDMs, but IMO the data should never be placed on any online database.
On one occasion only, I did some research on a living family.
(Close relatives that I never knew existed)
I tracked each one from 1930's up to 2008.
I was so uncomfotable with myself, that I shredded it all as soon as I got home.

We are all different but I prefer not to enter into the land of the living

I had exactly the same problem on here a couple of years ago, except even worse as the tree owner added my address and phone number ( which I had given her to facilitate communication ) on the notes at the bottom of my details. She also denied me access to her tree when I asked her to remove them, so I contacted GR who assured me that they had all been deleted, so would advise you to do that asap.

Some people!!

Sue

Thanks Susie,
I intend to do that.
I made contact yesterday with the tree owner via another genealogy site where my hidden details still appear.
Rather that respond, he simply changed the tree to private.


Edit:
I have both emailed GR and Ancestry.
I have asked Ancestry about their policies on this matter and asked GR to take action.
I suspect that the offender will be reading this, but I feel strongly about my family's personal security.
If private info is shared, it cannot be unshared and I would urge this person to think very carefully about how he produces a family tree