Any recourse to living persons information on genealogy sites?

Question

I realize I am probably asking the impossible with no privacy on the internet but is there any recourse when someone who is not related to you,that you have no idea who they are has placed living persons information related to you on their website .We have begged and pleaded by postems for this person to take off information that involves a very personal situation that really is no one elses business. About ten years ago she contacted a relative and said she was connected to our family and unwittingly the relative gave her enough basic information that this woman started checking records and put two and two together and in some instances came up with five so there is erroneous information. But that is not the real thing that bothers us she placed the hurtful information on too. Of course Ancestry.com has a disclaimer which absolves them of responsibility for what goes on their site which is logical but can we do anything about the living persons information in another way?

Answer 1

I have contacted people regarding erroneous information.  I don't press the issue if they don't change it.

However, if the erroneous information is slanderous, I feel you should.  Also, if it is dealing with living persons, I think you can press the issue with Ancestry.Com.  On their Ancestry World Tree, for instance, they will change a person's name to "Living"

if they were born 1930 and later.  Sometimes they slip up.  On the Public Member Tree the only time a person can see a living person's name is if you have invited that person to view your tree.  You can go ahead and put their name in but the system will make them "Living Smith" if you do not show they have died.

Answer 2

I've only run into someone like that on Ancestry once. But I fought Ancestry.com on their own terms. I published my research in a professional journal and this person stole it and republished it without permission. My attorney sent them a bill for $30,000 for copyright infringement. They tried to claim that they were immune from that, but my attorney pointed out that they were charging people to access family trees and receiving compensation for my research without my permission. They pulled the tree and the woman in question was banned from their site.

I can't guarantee that there's much you can do if the information isn't copyrighted. But if they are publishing information about a living person, I would send Ancestry a notice that they are violating their own privacy rules by publishing information about living people.  Here's the actual passage that I would use from the Terms of Service to get Ancestry to remove the information:

"We will not edit or monitor user provided content, with the exception that, to promote privacy, an automated filtering tool will be used to suppress, and omit from display, information submitted to the tree areas of the site which appears to pertain to a LIVING person. We also reserves the right to remove any user provided content that comes to our attention and that we believe, in our sole discretion, is illegal, obscene, indecent, DEFAMATORY, incites racial or ethnic hatred or violates the rights of others, or is in any other way objectionable. "

You'll have to point out every person who is still alive and insist through Customer Service that the information get removed. Mention that your family was manipulated into giving this information and that you repeatedly tried contacting the other subscriber to have it removed, but to no avail. It's probable that the other person's email on file is old and they're not even getting your emails, but Customer Service can and should edit it for you.

Answer 3

Even though Ancestry has a disclaimer, it does not prevent you from asking them to remove the offending piece, they may still refuse, but there is nothing lost by asking, otherwise, sadly, I think there is probably very little else that you can do.

Answer 4

You could put the correct information on the same web site and disprove the other's incorrect data.Some people just have no class,check the  privacy laws in your respective states. Public records are allowed but private is a grey area. Get a laywer to issue a letter requesting her information pertaining to the hurtful information be removed. Sue for slander if your reputation has been damaged.There is so much MISINFORMATION on the internet and people take it as truth,if they don't check the sources,shame on them.

Answer 5

I wish I knew; every one of my siblings (6 in all) as well as myself are listed in various genealogy trees. Much of the information is erroneous (names, dates, etc.) (One of my uncles died 10 days before I was born; my Mom could not attend her brother's funeral...but in some of these genealogy sites, he is listed as dying in the 1980s!)

The only suggestion I have is to contact a lawyer.

Answer 6

You're right; Ancestry simply own the site, but it's down to the individuals to edit their information. That's what you agree to in their terms and conditions. I'm afraid I don't know too much about the legislations for this, but I assume your country have some freedom of information laws that may work for you. In the UK I know the laws are strict, so it would be worth reading up about it if you're British. Perhaps re-post this question in the law category for a better idea. Good luck, it's not nice to be the victim to trash being written about your family.