A******y 'Glitches' - your private tree may not be private after all...

[Nick29]

That's true, but I think they also log IP addresses.

[fifer1947]

I tend to agree with Alice on this subject.  I got an invitation to visit a tree on A.....ry and was absolutely horrified to find that I could view and copy  (distant) relatives families right up to the present day ie children born within the last 5-10 years.  (I didn't though!  )

This is highly confidential and very private information to the individual families concerned.  Quite apart from the fact the child is not legally old enough to give permission!

They don't know me from Adam and the tree owner who gave permission is distant also, so why would you post up confidential information??

We are so surprised to see cases of identity theft but with information like this floating around cyberspace is it any wonder?  

Agree with Nick on the question of log on details too, all such sites have strict criteria about keeping your password private.

[aliceaevdb]

The reason for me having an online tree is for relatives who live elsewhere to log in using my username, see what I have found, and create their own tree if they wish - rather then everyone paying for their own subscription.

This is strictly against Ancestry rules, and when they find out (and they will eventually), they could cancel your account.

I didn't know that! Gosh, looks like we'll have to pay for another subscription! Luckily my relative has only logged in once and hasn't changed or added anything. I knew you couldn't have two computers logged in at once.... Thankyou for letting me know, I feel awful knowing that my account could have been cancelled! 

Just out of curiosity, if you have a computer and a laptop, would you be able to log in using both (obv. not at the same time)? What about if you logged in from another comp; say at work or over a friends?

I think it's fine if people want to have their tree public; it can lead to some fascinating discoveries - but if you choose to you should be very careful what you put on there (A******y says they try not to show details where they think they person may be alive but they can't guarantee this)

My issue is that I had changed mine to private, but a glitch on there end made it open for all to see - even though it said 'private' in my settings. I would not have added some of the info on my tree if I had known..

Alice

[aliceaevdb]

Just looked it up - you can log in from any other computer as long as you have logged out of the other. It just states that accounts are for one individual or household (I guess this is where the IP address comes in) - so it's fine for my relatives who I actually live with to use it. Phew!

[Alexander.]

I am a bit confused - my apologies if you've already answered these questions. Is the problem that just anyone with an Ancestry subscription is able to view your private (living) data, or only people you've invited to have access to your tree? I understand the issue about your private tree accidentally being public, but even any public tree is even supposed to hide private data about living persons from the public. But once you invite someone to your tree, whether public or private, I think they can copy whatever they like (including data on living people). So did the people who copied your entire tree have no permissions or prior contact with you? If that's the case then that's very worrying and I'll delete my tree from there asap.

Alexander

[aliceaevdb]

Hi Alexander,

My original message was a bit rambling....   

I have never invited anyone to my tree. When it was initially a public tree - before I actually had any info - I knew people could just copy it but I didn't mind - after all, there was nothing on there that couldn't be found on A******y.

 I made it private once I added more info, and I didn't 'invite' anyone as it was purely for my family (there isn't anyone else looking in to our specific family, and I added info that is not readily available on the internet or to people who are not close family members)

The people who copied from my tree did not contact me at all to ask permission - however as it was listed accidentally as 'public', they didn't have to - it's just polite to check, but not mandatory. There are lots of mentions on here from people who have had their public trees copied, and even the photos attached to them, without having been asked permission.

A******y say that they will try to blank out any details of people they believe to be living in both public and private trees, including names, however I  have seen public trees listing people born within the past 20 years with no death date - and the full info shows up.

If your tree is set to private, no-one at all should be able to see any details bar the name of the person (and supposedly not even this if they are living). Dates and other details are blanked out, with a message saying 'this person has asked us to keep their tree private... contact them etc).

If you don't even want your tree to come up in search options, go in to privacy settings, make your tree private, and tick the box below which says something like 'don't include this tree in search results'. A******y don't recommend this, as they say it will stop people from contacting you who may have vital info - but if you are happy not to be contacted by other researchers, it stops you getting unwanted messages.

Mine was a very unlucky glitch. When I updated my settings, A******y's server which contains all the info did not receive this request, and so left it public despite it saying private in my settings.

If you think that your tree might still be 'public' although you listed it as private, try logging out completely of A*******y and searching for someone in your tree. If you have requested your tree not to come up in search results, you should not see it listed in the results. If you have requested it stay private but can be listed in search results, when it comes up it will say 'private' as mentioned before.

If your tree is private but you notice anything strange, such as in the 'news feed' on the home page, other users adding things to their trees straight after you have, or adding things which you have personally scanned and added (i.e. not available on A******Y), contact A******y.

I didn't mean to 'scaremonger', and I will be keeping my tree online for now having paid for a subscription. But I was not entirely reassured by A******y's comment that they often have problems with their servers not updating info. I thought everyone should be aware, just so they could check this hasn't happened to them.

I have now been reassured that my tree is private and does not come up in searches, so I am happy to keep it on there.

I hope this answers your Q's

Alice

[california dreamin]

Hi Alice

Oooh, don't get me started with Ancestry and privacy issues! However, just in case you wish to share your tree with trusted family members or friends you can without divulging your password (which is obviously against the rules).  If you 1. go to Family Trees, then select the which tree you want to share, then 2. look at the right hand side to the button which says "Invite family members" and click you can then 3."Invite people".

Ancestry says
"Know someone who may be able to help you build your tree? Invite family members now to come see your tree. They will be able to view your tree for free. Don't post any photos of living individuals(other than just you) or anyone else's email addresses without their consent. "

Whenever you change your setting it does take quite a few weeks before the changes filter through..so always be wary. Also, I queried the "Living relative" issue.  It seems that in the US their privacy laws only go up to something like 75 or 79 years.  I had found a number of my relatives who were over the age of 80 had their names & details still visable.  Ancestry advised me that they had now changed this so that anyone under 100 years old would now be shown as "Living".  So you if you happen have a living relative at say 101 their name will not be "blanked" out!

Personally I am still v. wary of adding too much information although I am private - I still think there is a back way in to view private trees but Ancestry insist this is not the case.  It does get very tiresome trying to argue with these people.  I do understand your frustration.

[rachelralph]

i havent read all the replies so forgive me if im repeatng something. living people in other peoples public tree is another thing that worries me. so if i chose to view someones tree that is public and i click on the home page i can see thumbnails of all their photos. if the person in the photo is a living person and i click on the thumbnail i cannot see the image in full size, but i can see the thumbnail.

so does this mean that anyone can see my photos of my children as thumbnails, copy and then paste them to there files?

[aliceaevdb]

Hi california dreamin,

Hmmm this does not explain why there are some people with no death dates who may only be about 20 on public trees... with all info available!

I did see the 'disclaimer' about taking a while for servers to update - however it says that if you change your tree to private this is immediate - it's the 'not coming up on search indexes' which takes a while. I, rather unluckily, changed my settings as they were updating their server and it got 'stuck'...

rachelralph - I have also seen people who are clearly still alive listed and have been able to gain full access to these details, despite A*******Y saying they do not show people who would be younger that 101. However, this is just on public trees. If your tree is private, no-one should be able to see any details on your tree accept the names - not even the D.O.B.. It prompts them to contact you for more info. Theoretically, it shouldn't even list living people's (i.e. younger than 101) names.

If you're worried, check your privacy settings. If you wish to have details of living people (like many people do), always have your tree private. To change your settings:

Go in to the tree
Go to 'tree pages'
In the drop down, select 'tree settings'
Go to 'privacy settings'

You will then have a page which says Public Tree and Private Tree.

Check the box for Private. If you don't want your tree to come up in search results, click this box too.

Save Changes. Your tree will be private immediately, although it may take a few days for your tree not to come up in search results.

If you have more than one tree, you will have to change the settings in each tree.

If you leave your tree public, there is a *chance* that people could see your living relatives and all details about them (although A******y says you shouldn't be able to...)

Lastly, as someone mentioned earlier, if your tree is Private but you invite someone to join your tree, they can see absolutely everything - so unless you know who you're inviting, I wouldn't let them access your tree if you have living peoples details.

Sorry if you knew all of this, if not I hope it helps

Alice