Gggrrrrrr!! Private Tree on Ancestry photos copied

[rosie17]

I also changed my tree from private to public supplying information to help other families with their research as I was always grateful for any information from other trees . The problem now is people copying from the tree and adding all the wrong information and photo's without your consent . I have contacted some of these people and explained you have the wrong person but it's like talking to a brick wall!!!!!! Going to make it private again

[mrs.tenacious]

Thanks for the comments everyone - I can't disagree with any of the points raised to be honest!

Ancestry have (very nicely) confirmed that they are only a distributor, and indeed suggested the photos were copied from the public tree of someone I had invited to view mine. 

I recognise the benefits of making contact with other family members, indeed I welcome it.  They may be able to help with my research, as I can them. I have been delighted to receive photos and stories from others and learn more about my family (but have never added them to even my private Ancestry tree).  I do agree with msr in that the frustration caused is because some people don't seem to have the common courtesy of making contact and asking permission to copy photos, or even to ask for any information. I will continue to ascertain how 'valid' a contact might be, but I understand I can't control it completely and I shall  just need to be a little less bit 'precious' about it all. 

[nel gin]

I know this is an old thread, but if you want to put pictures on a website and be sure that nobody copies them and uses them, consider using a watermark. There's a lot of free graphics programs that'll create a watermark for you. Also consider creating a low quality image. It gives people an idea without letting them run off with your family.

Finally, a lot of people won't look, or don't have the ability to see some of the hidden information that you can store in an image file such as a .jpg. Again, a good graphics program will help you out there.

Finally, to find those pictures that are scattered across the web, use Google Chrome. Go to one of your private images and right click. You'll see a "Search Google for this image" menu option. Google will then look for this picture and report any websites.

Family pictures are a strong part of our past and it's disrespectful for other people to steal them. They should know better, but they don't so it's up to us to protect them.

I hope someone may find this post useful.

[alanmack]

Nelgin,

       I concur with most of the points you made but would add that there are two ways of watermarking a picture - visibly or invisibly. Which are you advocating?

A visible watermark will deter only those without the necessary graphics knowledge and skills to remove the overlaid message. Unless the picture is ruined by watermarking across the whole image like the professional sites do which would rather defeat the object in our case.

Programs are available which can embed an invisible image of identifying text or graphics within the displaying image. These can be  encrypted and password protected so the message cannot be removed.

These still  don't beat the screen grab pirates so a combination of both types of watermark will afford the best protection you can get.

[nel gin]

I'm not really advocating one way or the other. It depends how much you value your images and how far you want to go to protect them. Since a lot of webhosts are based in the US, you can always apply for removal using the DCMA.

Of course, it's hard to beat a professional photo thief, but I expect most people who grab pictures just want to use them by simply copying them.

[Tricia_2]

Hi

I think that people are often upset by both misunderstandings and different interpretations.

Personally, I don't think that living people should be put on anyone's tree without permission, but it seems that, as long as one's tree is 'private', then it's ok, even if these are very distant relatives. And, since the details are a matter of public record there is little to argue against. I also feel that it is not a good thing to include the recently-deceased.

Regarding photos, if they are on a public tree then they can be shared very easily. I tend to assume that it is acceptable for me to share the relevant ones and that others will share mine. I feel that if I don't want them shared then I probably shouldn't post them. I do understand why sharing something so personal could be upsetting, though.

Various things can cause upset or offense. It seems that some people don't like their own families to be researched by strangers. Yet we all share many many relatives, going back over the years, with complete strangers. I've started doing cluster research, which involves creating trees of potential relatives. I hope that this research will help others, so the trees are public on Ancestry. Maybe I have unwittingly offended some descendants of these families.

Mostly, I get annoyed when others either simply copy my research without verifying it for themselves or, alternatively, do their own research and then add wrong information about my family which others subsequently accept as true. Then my family details are spread incorrectly around the family history community.

I think that as long as we steer clear of including details - including photos - of the living or recently-deceased then we should be ok. Basically, most people who enjoy genealogy / family history are happy to share information and learn from each other. It's best to assume that they mean well, I think.

[CelticAnnie]

Feeling slightly freaked out by all this!

Have a private tree on Ancestry I started several years back with lots of very precious old photos posted -- just 3 or 4 trusted folk given viewing access to it, but all of them pre-warned I am MOST anxious (to an excessive degree!) my photos never appear anywhere else on the Internet, including on other trees, private or public. So far (as best I know!) this has been totally respected.

Following Ancestry's recent DoS attack, however, have learned my lesson and decided to create an off-line tree using Legacy and move all my personal stuff (photos and stories) to that from my Ancestry tree, so there will then be no question of anyone gaining access to it.  Then I will likely make my Ancestry 'skeleton' tree, stripped of all photos and stories, public.  But at the moment, because Ancestry is not yet 'firing on all cylinders' I am unable to make a GEDCOM file and get started on this project -- which is making me feel a bit 'twitchy'!! 

Thank you for letting me rant!  And, Nelgin, thanks for your useful tips.

CELTICANNIE   

[iluleah]

In reality once you upload something online, it is on forever, even if you delete it and like many websites ancestry harvest everything you add/put on public or private and once it is put on their site ( same as other sites) it belongs to them not you, so they can use it, as you sign up for their terms and conditions.

After my computer was stolen where I had my family history on it, and backed up to the hard drive ( that the thief 'thoughtfully' stole too) so only print out copies of everything so I set up my own free website and started again. The website is a strange name/number combo so no one will find it and even if they do each page is set with different passwords along with hidden pages where I can only get into them via the managing my website page, so no one can get into those. But again the 'owner' of the website who allows free website space can, never found anything from 'my' website elsewhere online and I have had it now for about 5 years...just another option for people, as is cloud storage

[jess5athome]

Hi CelticAnnie, I am doing exactly the same as you, have you tried downloading your GEDCOM today?, I know the site was having trouble with GEDCOM's but I have this morning downloaded mine as the site now appears to be OK

Frank.