Family Tree Website Triggers Privacy Concerns

KOMO ^ | Connie Thompson

[BenLurkin]

FamilyTreeNow.com aggregates information obtained from public records such as marriage licenses, divorce filings, birth and death records and property tax records....accuracy is not guaranteed. The site also outlines legal restrictions against using the information for harassment, fraud, or illegal purposes.

Some say it's no big deal, since many of us freely disclose personal, private information on a regular basis. We're the ones who put it out there.

Others see how it could help find relatives with whom you've lost touch over the years.

If you're bothered by the concept, you can opt out and have your name removed. In my experience the opt-out section was not clearly evident. I had to click the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page. As of January 13th, the opt-out section indicated here had been a high number of opt-out requests.

If you choose to use the site, you're able to establish a password-protected personal account for your family tree information. You can also create a public family tree. Just keep in mind by using the account you're agreeing to certain conditions.

The terms and conditions give the company, among other things, the irrevocable right to use and share any information you post on the public part of the site.

While the information offered by the website is already available in different public records, there is valid concern about identity theft and fraud, given the amount of information the site makes freely available with a few simple clicks.

Security experts routinely warn us not to disclose the names of relatives or previous addresses because that same information is often the answer to the security questions for our accounts and passwords.

Again, if you want your name removed, you can opt out. Start by clicking on the "Contact Us" link.

[AbolishCSEU]

Good luck on opting out. I’ve been trying to get the crap taken off there that my self-absorbed estranged sister put up to no avail. She posted both her nephew and niece’s birthdays incorrectly.

[xzins]

The ones that worry me encourage DNA testing.

[109ACS]

Start here:

https://www.familytreenow.com/optout

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting.

A relative sent me the app form, and I joined but sent them no data.

Something didn’t feel right, and I never sent any data.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[Reddy]

Never use mother’s maiden name or like identifiers fir password protection. Too many people know that information, anyway.

[ConsCA]

Thanks for posting this, I was able to opt out the other day. Our data was removed within 24 hours.

But, when you opt out, you can remove all your relatives too.

Query your name in a day or two, they say it takes 2 weeks but it seems to be removed sooner. I will continue to check it though.

[Grams A]

You must be talking about Ancestry.com. Don’t understand why anyone would use any internet site that encourages DNA testing. Surely people don’t think the results won’t be available online.

[xzins]

Yep. Can’t imagine wanting my DNA on the World Wide Web.

[gop4lyf]

I opted out for me and my wife. She has chosen to not have any contact with her dad for 6 years now. Since then we’ve had a couple of kids and moved to a different town. She doesn’t want him to know anything about us, or at least as little as possible.

[TomGuy]

Never use mother’s maiden name or like identifiers fir password protection.

On some I mix up the responses. For example, where was your father born? I insert the year. Mother's maiden name? I insert her middle name.

[fruser1]

I was impressed it traced my tree back to Moses.

[Bigg Red]

Thank you for that link.

Wow! Way too much info about me there.

[Faith65]

bkmk

[tbw2]

This is from 2005.
Teenager finds sperm donor dad on internet

I expect many more cases as the number of “Seekers” grows and size of available matches input per genealogy goes up.

[tbw2]

Sometimes genetic testing solves that question mark on the genealogy tree.

Example:
Genetics and Genealogy – Genetic Testing Company Reviews and Our Story
http://hubpages.com/family/Genetics-and-Genealogy-Our-Story-and-My-Genetic-Testing-Reviews

What concerns me more than genetic genealogy are genetic tests of newborns and the massive amount of data amassed there, as well as genetic tendencies to diseases used against people who have no control over it.
Or use of genetic genealogy data to identify suspects kind of sort of to a list of relatives, now you are all ordered to go in for testing to prove you’re not the assailant.

[Albion Wilde]

bump for later

[HotHunt]

All of this information is from public records. Nothing on the site can be considered your "private" information if it's already available to the public.

Just from your birth certificate recorded in the county where you were born, it has your full name, your birthdate, your gender, your race, your parent's names, their address(es) and even your mother's maiden name.

Not sure what the big deal is if it is already in the public realm. Nothing you can do about it anyway.

Unless, of course, you're Barack Obama and alter your official long-form birth certificate and secure away under lock and key at the cost of two million dollars, all of the rest of your private personal history information to hide it from the public.

[punknpuss]

I thought I was the only one who was wary of all this ancestry/dna testing. A database that knows minute details of my person and whereabouts and then I pay them on top of that? No thanks!