Our experience is that genealogists are very generous when it comes to sharing their information. We appreciate this greatly, and intend to reciprocate in kind.
We do feel, however, that care needs to be taken if there is a possibility that personal information, especially concerning those who are still living, is made public - as opposed to being privately shared between interested genealogists. In particular, we note that, by its very nature, the web is a very public place!
We recognise that, potentially, there is information, that we may legitimately receive, which if broadly disseminated may cause some discomfort or distress, or even possibly be misused. Clearly we must strive to avoid such situations.
For those who may have concerns regarding how information may be collected or distributed, particularly with regard to information put on the net, we have chosen to adopt the following Code of Conduct. A more detailed discussion the follows.
The Collection and Publication of Personal Data by Family Historians and Genealogists
Code of Conduct
1.
Confidentiality of
Input Data: Providers of data are
will be explicitly made aware of the uses to which the data may be put, and any
reasonable prohibitions the providers of the private data may wish to impose on
the use or dissemination of the data will be recognised and respected by the
genealogist;
2. Inferences: In analysing input data, regardless of its source(s), genealogists typically make inferences, based on judgement, experience, and information available at that time; consequently the reliability of the conclusions will vary. The assessed reliability of conclusions made, and rationale used will be documented, and are thus an integral component of the output.
3. Promulgation of Information: When a genealogist promulgates information, in any form (partially or completely) or in any forum (public or private), or in any format, recognition of sources and reliability of this information be provided. Reasonable requests to substantiate conclusions and their reliability will be responded to.
4. Code of Conduct: Genealogists agree to abide by the Code of Conduct, and to respect any directions to ensure compliance made by an organisation of which they are a member. In particular, individual genealogists acknowledge that they have a primary responsibility to ensure appropriate standards of confidentiality and privacy are adhered to by all parties involved in their genealogical researches.
5. Living Persons: Genealogists will seek permission, from the provider of the information, before making information regarding or relevant to still living persons, or persons who might reasonably be considered to be still living, available to any third party (directly or indirectly).
6. Seeking Advantage: Genealogists will not further distribute information to any third party who, in the genealogists’ judgement, may seek to gain commercial or financial advantage from this information. Equally, as potential users of the information, it is undertaken not to seek to gain commercial or financial advantage from possession of the information (beyond any that may have been explicitly agreed).
7. Exchanging Information Between Individual Genealogists and Family Members: When exchanging information with other genealogists or providing information to family members, either the sender or receiver of the information should notify the original provider of the information of the exchange, if prior explicit permission to share information has not been given. This ensures the original provider of the information with an opportunity for comment, should this be desired.
8. Private Information: Genealogists will not further distribute information which is considered, or has been designated by a provider, to be of a private nature, be it relating to either living or deceased persons, without the agreement of the provider of the information. Specifically, but not restricted to, this includes the further distribution of medically related information.
9. Publishing Information (in contrast to private exchange): Genealogists will obtain permission where appropriate and follow accepted practices when putting information into the public domain - including the Internet. In particular this includes an undertaking to ensure that any legal obligations, as well as generally accepted standards of courteous behaviour, are met.
10. Legislation and Regulation: Genealogists will abide by any relevant privacy and related legislation or regulation in the country in which they reside or to which their work is applicable.
11. Distributing Publicly Available Data: Information freely available from public sources can be distributed, however the information should be 'screened' with the application of these principles taking precedence over the criteria that an item is in the public domain. Without being comprehensive or prescriptive, we give some examples:
·
Appropriate Public Information Source:
<L1>Official Birth, Death and Marriage Registers</L1>
<L1>Published Genealogical Data (Including IGI etc)</L1>
<L1>Electoral Rolls</L1>
<L1>Published Directories - Phone, Business,
Membership Lists, Who's Who etc</L1P>
·
Public Information Sources to be Screened:
<L1>Court Lists</L1>
<L1>Divorce Court judgements</L1>
We acknowledge that some of the above principles may be regarded as being a little 'defensive', and may bot be fully agreed to by all. However, there is an ever increasing body of evidence which clearly demonstrates that it is unrealistic to rely on the maturity, commonsense and courtesy of all members of the public. While we are confident the genealogists we interact with are unlikely to abuse our interaction, we cannot speak so highly of all users of public information - including the web.
An article, A Personal Genealogical Code of Conduct, written by Jules, which provides the background reasoning to support our Code of Conduct, is available if you are interested in reading on.
If you read the article, you will see that we support the adoption of the Code of Conduct by genealogical organisations, including those whose primary audience and membership is ‘amateur’ (that is, not professional in the sense of providing genealogical services for a living). Given a bit of vision and commitment, this does not seem to be ‘ a big ask’ to us – indeed it seems directly consistent with the common objectives of promoting the pursuit of genealogical studies!
This Code of Conduct was proposed to the Guild of One Name Studies (July 1999), however the Guild has decided not to endorse it or to further consider the issues raised.
We consider these principles to be important, and would welcome comments regarding both their appropriateness and applicability.
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Please send your input, comments and suggestions by email to Jules Gribble or Michael Gribble.
Page Last Updated: 23 December 2003