I see a few problems with privacy even when the names and data of living persons are hidden.
Firstly, with all the dates of the recently deceased along with the places, one could track down a person through deduction.
Secondly, if one clicks on Marriage for a deceased man, for example, his spouse's name comes up, thus exposing her maiden name and address.
Thirdly, blocking out a whole living family with the exception of a recently deceased child and giving a date and place rather defeats the whole purpose.
What I would like to see is a practice followed by organizations such as the Ontario Genealogical Society, which many serious working genealogists adhere to:
1) as of this 2004, no people shown with births after 1909,
2) no people shown with marriages after 1924, and
3) no people shown with deaths after 1934.
Simply hiding certain facts or names of living people does not go far enough.
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> Firstly, with all the dates of the recently
> deceased along with the places, one could track > down a person through deduction.
Only if they knew the person existed.
> Secondly, if one clicks on Marriage for a
> deceased man, for example, his spouse's name
> comes up, thus exposing her maiden name and
> address.
Have you set Hide Living Names to only authenticated users in the Privacy Settings? If I hide living names I cannot see the name of a living spouse from the viewable record of a dead person.
> Thirdly, blocking out a whole living family with
> the exception of a recently deceased child and
> giving a date and place rather defeats the whole
> purpose.
If a child died in infancy and the rest of the family is living, it would be difficult to find that person unless you were looking for them. You can also manually override the privacy settings for this specific child. The death information of almost anyone is usually readily available through newspaper obituaries, county records, and by walking through the cemetary.
> What I would like to see is a practice followed by
> organizations such as the Ontario Genealogical
> Society, which many serious working
> genealogists adhere to:
> 1) as of this 2004, no people shown with births
> after 1909,
> 2) no people shown with marriages after 1924,
> and
> 3) no people shown with deaths after 1934.
I can provide you with a customized privacy file that will do this. I will attach it to the Feature Request that you filed.
> Simply hiding certain facts or names of living
> people does not go far enough.
Hiding the information that you want also does not go far enough. The only way that you can guarentee privacy is not to publish.
Publishing any genealogy information on the Internet allows someone the ability to link people by relationships. But that is why we publish genealogies isn't it? To share our relationships and findings with others, not to hide it.
Those who are truly worried about the privacy of living people should not publish their data period. Not even to living relatives. People born before 1909 should not even be in the GEDCOM.
Unless you are running on an SSL server so that all of the data is encrypted. If you are not running on an SSL server, then a hacker can get your username and password from the internet traffic and then use that to login. They can also just wait for you to login, view the privacy details of a particular person and get all of their details from the internet packets.
--John
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John,
Thanks for the custom privacy file. This is one issue where it is hard to please everyone--some want to see more information and others are upset at the little they see. I hope banks and other institutions will soon realize that asking for the maiden name of one's mother is NOT a good way to judge security. If someone doesn't find this information on my site they will on someone else's.
--Loren
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I see a few problems with privacy even when the names and data of living persons are hidden.
Firstly, with all the dates of the recently deceased along with the places, one could track down a person through deduction.
Secondly, if one clicks on Marriage for a deceased man, for example, his spouse's name comes up, thus exposing her maiden name and address.
Thirdly, blocking out a whole living family with the exception of a recently deceased child and giving a date and place rather defeats the whole purpose.
What I would like to see is a practice followed by organizations such as the Ontario Genealogical Society, which many serious working genealogists adhere to:
1) as of this 2004, no people shown with births after 1909,
2) no people shown with marriages after 1924, and
3) no people shown with deaths after 1934.
Simply hiding certain facts or names of living people does not go far enough.
Hi Loren
You could file a RFE suggesting this change in the modus operandi of PGV.
Best regards,
Arne
Arne,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have done so now.
--Loren
> Firstly, with all the dates of the recently
> deceased along with the places, one could track > down a person through deduction.
Only if they knew the person existed.
> Secondly, if one clicks on Marriage for a
> deceased man, for example, his spouse's name
> comes up, thus exposing her maiden name and
> address.
Have you set Hide Living Names to only authenticated users in the Privacy Settings? If I hide living names I cannot see the name of a living spouse from the viewable record of a dead person.
> Thirdly, blocking out a whole living family with
> the exception of a recently deceased child and
> giving a date and place rather defeats the whole
> purpose.
If a child died in infancy and the rest of the family is living, it would be difficult to find that person unless you were looking for them. You can also manually override the privacy settings for this specific child. The death information of almost anyone is usually readily available through newspaper obituaries, county records, and by walking through the cemetary.
> What I would like to see is a practice followed by
> organizations such as the Ontario Genealogical
> Society, which many serious working
> genealogists adhere to:
> 1) as of this 2004, no people shown with births
> after 1909,
> 2) no people shown with marriages after 1924,
> and
> 3) no people shown with deaths after 1934.
I can provide you with a customized privacy file that will do this. I will attach it to the Feature Request that you filed.
> Simply hiding certain facts or names of living
> people does not go far enough.
Hiding the information that you want also does not go far enough. The only way that you can guarentee privacy is not to publish.
Publishing any genealogy information on the Internet allows someone the ability to link people by relationships. But that is why we publish genealogies isn't it? To share our relationships and findings with others, not to hide it.
Those who are truly worried about the privacy of living people should not publish their data period. Not even to living relatives. People born before 1909 should not even be in the GEDCOM.
Unless you are running on an SSL server so that all of the data is encrypted. If you are not running on an SSL server, then a hacker can get your username and password from the internet traffic and then use that to login. They can also just wait for you to login, view the privacy details of a particular person and get all of their details from the internet packets.
--John
John,
Thanks for the custom privacy file. This is one issue where it is hard to please everyone--some want to see more information and others are upset at the little they see. I hope banks and other institutions will soon realize that asking for the maiden name of one's mother is NOT a good way to judge security. If someone doesn't find this information on my site they will on someone else's.
--Loren