ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY-L Archives

Archiver > ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY > 2003-08 > 1061632172


From: Fridrik Skulason <>
Subject: Re: [Ethics] Privacy
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2003 09:49:32 +0000
References: <16538-3F46AFC1-619@storefull-2292.public.lawson.webtv.net> <5.1.0.14.2.20030822220006.01c420a0@mail.earthlink.net>
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20030822220006.01c420a0@mail.earthlink.net>


> If personal privacy is not an ethical concern in genealogy, what issues are
> ethical concerns in this endeavor?

Oh, there are quite a few ethical issues that have nothing to do with privacy as
such.

Let me mention a few examples:

While I am firmly of the opinion that pure genealogical information about the
living (name, dates of birth/marriage/death, and links to parents, spouses and
children) should be freely available, without their consent, there are various types
of information that I (and the law) consider "sensitive", and which should not
be published in all circumstances. One example being "cause of death", which
is sometimes included in genealogical databases, for example if the only primary
source for the existence of an individual is an entry in the parish records like

Sept 28th, 1785: John Doe, age 53 died of tuberculosis.

However, what about cause of death for those who have died recently, and may
have living children? Nobody is likely to object to this kind of information
being published for someone who died 200, 300...800 years ago, but it might be
sensitive regarding those who died more recently. Where do I draw the line?

Another issue. What do I say about the gender of those who have had a sex-change
operation? Do I list their original biological gender, or do I list their new
"legal, surgically modified" gender?

What about ethnic or racial origin? May such information be included in a genealogy
database or not?

Those are all ethical issues that are not primarily issues of privacy.

-frisk

This thread: