Privacy Concerns in Building a Family Tree.

When I decided to start sharing my family history online, I was excited about the possibilities and intrigued by the challenge.

I was also wanting to ensure the data was digitised as the current keeper was advancing in years. Sadly, 8yrs later Fr. Chris passed and had I not already started my journey then I do wonder who might have kept this going… if anybody!

Creating a space to document shared heritage, potentially connect with distant relatives, and hopefully gather and preserve stories for future generations felt like an huge undertaking. However, and I forget how this came about, but I was informed that “certain members” of the family were concerned about privacy. And specifically about living members along with the potential for data theft, etc…

Navigating these privacy concerns wasn’t straightforward, but with careful thought and planning, I developed strategies that allowed me to move forward confidently. Here’s how I tackled the issue and ensured sensitive information stayed secure.

Understanding Privacy Risks.

My first challenge was to navigate the potential of leaving data visible to unwelcome third parties. This could have led to:

• Identity theft.
• Misuse of information.
• Discomfort for family members.

So having determined risks I had to determine what and more importantly how to share. For the what my approach was fairly simple. I wouldn’t share anything that wasn’t already easily available via multiple other means.

The how was more challenging, but I already knew I wanted to ‘Gate Keep’ anybody that wanted to look at the information, and it had to be something that was:

• both easy to install and use,
• being regularly worked on and updated.
• And required users to register and have that verified before being able to login.

This led to the practical side of things in trying to identify the platform.

Choosing a Platform.

At the time, I was familiar with WordPress, and went looking for a family tree plugin. Whilst I didn’t find that I did find an application that allowed me to link from within the WP frontend and thus, if you look upwards you will see the link:

The key aspects for me are in my above bullet points. I needed something that was being developed, or put another way was having its bugs worked on and fixed. The actual development in terms of features in the application was not a concern. It had to be something I could update when the authors became aware of bugs, or security issues, etc and there had to be a thriving eco-system behind.

Both WordPress and WebTrees met, and some 20yrs later still meet those basic requirements. It helps that both are 100% free and the only cost I have is that of hosting and registering the domain name.

Trying to Educate Family.

Despite these measures I knew I still had a battle ahead of me to convince family. However, in the intervening 20yrs our (generic) usage of the Internet and all things electronic have jumped forward in leaps and bounds. It would be unusual if any of the family members that were concerned are not using logons to access information that, should it get out, would cause them more grief than this site letting slip their current age or birth date.

Striking a Balance.

After all we now access our credit records, mortgages, car insurance, voting records, taxes, etc, etc using electronic means. The world as we knew it has and is changing. In some cases, not always for the better.

I discovered some 20yrs ago, that for a payment of £10 I was able to access all birth and death records for the entire UK. That £10 got me the access for 3 months and I used it to track down my school colleagues to try and arrange a 25yr reunion. And I was successful. I went from having contact details of 4, maybe 5 of my year to having approx 90% of 40+ people through the use of birth locations and the hope that their families (unlike mine) hadn’t moved far from that place. Between that, LinkedIn and FriendsReunited I found a treasure trove of information that my family tree would never share let alone contain.

And family were worried! Suffice to say, nothing has leaked from this site and all and any access requests are vetted. When you request an account, there’s a section that asks “Why you want to access this data”. If that is left blank and I don’t recognise your name then you get no access.

If left blank, and I recognise you could be family, then I will reach out via your provided eMail and ask. Until you answer, and I am satisfied you are genuine then you get nothing.

Final Thoughts.

Ask any member of my own immediate family and they will tell you I am a pain when it comes to passwords (hate them, use a passphrase and a password manager instead) and trying to ensure they follow common-sense guidelines when it comes to security.

So yes, I value privacy as much as anyone. Yes, I worry about loss of data and being an on the coal face 40yr IT veteran, I know and have seen a few things. But be assured, there is more information about you out there than I have here!

For me, the reward has been worth the effort. Our family website has hopefully become a hub for connection and discovery, and the steps I’ve taken ensure it’s a safe and welcoming space for everyone involved.