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Archiver > ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY > 2002-04 > 1018394424


From:
Subject: Re: Re: [Ethics] sharing information
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 19:20:24 EDT


Myra,

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I am not arguing about sharing
"uncopyrightable data." I'm sorry about this misunderstanding.

There seems to be the idea that gedcom's contain only facts. This is
definitely not true with today's gedcom formats. When you go to your
computer, and export a gedcom, look at the default fields that appear. In
addition to the standard name and dates, the "misc. notes" field is
checked. Miscellaneous notes include biographies, family tales, musings,
etc (what ever the author* yes author, writes) and other very
"copyrightable" creative work. Most people export these notes because
they want to share and because they leave the default box checked. Even
in some fields designated as facts there may be hypothesis included. I
have often seen a person for example listed as b. in Bedford County, TN
(probably). Last I checked, there's no such state as "Probably" so we
conclude that this is the author's guess.

I have had my website up since 1998 and have shared all of my information
and continue to do so today. You can even go download my scans of the
original documents that I found and that I paid to copy, all for free.
You don't even have to sign on or accept cookies to view my site (unlike
others). I have had lots of my stuff taken and had never complained once.
I even had one person cut and paste my permission to republish an
article: ""The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine," Tercentenary Issue,
Volume XXXII-Number 4, 1982, Published by the Genealogical Society of
Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia 19107,
http://www.libertynet.org/gspa/, Pages 283-296, Reprinted by Permission
granted to April Heath by The Pennsylvania Genealogical Society." So, she
cut and paste the entire article including the permission statement, kind
of funny, and this person still has her site up and, no I am not going to
give her url because again, I have no problem with sharing.

I also contacted the person who took the gedcom privately and asked only
that she remove the living people. I didn't even mention that she had
republished everything word for word without my permission or not being
listed as the source. Her response was to email me and her lawyer
threatening ME with a lawsuit if I didn't take her ancestors off my site.
When I tried to reply my email came back that I had been blocked from her
email address. Although I hadn't even asked, she then removed my notes
but still had private information up.

After quite a few notes sent by others to this person, she has finally
removed the files from worldconnect, rootsweb. On Ancestry.com the living
people have been removed. So, I got what I wanted. But that does not
erase the fact that this is happening to others and attempts to justify
these actions should be frowned upon, not applauded.

April


>If you do not wish to share your work, that is certainly your business, but
>then you should not be "using" anyone else's either -- for any purpose.
>There seems to be a *MINE* entitlement attitude among many today regarding
>the sharing of uncopyrightable data that I find annoying.
>
>It is too bad, because some of my biggest breakthroughs over the years
>have come from cousins of cousins who had just the bit of information
>and/or clues I needed and vice versa, and we shared information this way.
>So many of our families intertwine it is foolish to think our ancestors had
>only connections with people of the same surname.
>
>I have had some of my copyrighted narrative "lifted" and published without
>my permission, but I wrote privately to the guilty party and asked them to
>remove it immediately. They did. They "took" my uncopyrightable facts also,
>but that does not bother me. I put the genealogy "facts" out there to be
>shared in hopes that others would have information, connections or clues I
>do not.
>
>The only way to be sure that no one else has your toys, I mean your GEDCOM,
>is not to share it with anyone. Put it in the vault.
>
>--Myra
>
>


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Don't sit under the family tree with anyone else but me.

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