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Sharing Genealogical Information

(Standards Recommended by the National Genealogical Society)

Conscious of the fact that sharing information or data with others, whether through speech, documents or electronic media, is essential to family history research and that it needs continuing support and encouragement, the N.G.S. Guidelines suggest responsible family historians:

• Respect the restrictions on sharing information that arise from the rights of another as an author, originator or compiler; as a living private person; or as a party to a mutual agreement.

• Observe meticulously the legal rights of copyright owners, copying and distributing any part of their works only with their permission, or to the limited extent specifically allowed under the law's "fair use" exceptions.

• Identify the sources for all ideas, information and data from others, and the form in which they were received, recognizing that the unattributed use of another's intellectual work is plagiarism.

• Respect the authorship rights of senders of letters, electronic mail and data files, forwarding or disseminating them further only with the sender's permission.

• Inform people who provide information about their families, as to the ways it may be used, observing any conditions they impose and respecting any reservations they may express regarding the use of particular items.

• Require some evidence of consent before assuming that living people are agreeable to further sharing of information about themselves.

• Convey personal identifying information about living people, like age, home address, occupation or activities, not in ways that those concerned have expressly agreed to.

• Recognize that the legal rights of privacy may limit the extent to which information from publicly available sources may be further used, disseminated or published.

• Communicate no information to others that is known to be false, or without making reasonable efforts to determine its truth, particularly information that may be derogatory.

• Be sensitive to the hurt that revelations of criminal, immoral, bizarre or irresponsible behavior may bring to family members.

 

 ©2000 by National Genealogical Society. Permission granted to copy or publish the above-noted material, provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.

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