Your Genealogy Online -- Public, Private or Working?

 

I think the most important place to start in understanding the relationship between genealogical research and some legal and social customs is expressed by the reoccurring issue of "privacy." Here is a basic statement of how privacy is viewed in the United States. 

Under longstanding American jurisprudence, the baseline rule is that privacy rights are strictly personal and extinguish immediately upon the death of the individual. The dead have no legally cognizable interest in their own privacy, dignity, or reputation under traditional common law tort frameworks. Consequently, causes of action for defamation, light-portrayal, or invasion of privacy do not survive the decedent, nor can a estate or next-of-kin maintain an action for a post-mortem invasion of the decedent’s personal privacy. “Postmortem Privacy.” Michigan Law Review, n.d. Accessed May 19, 2026. https://michiganlawreview.org/journal/postmortem-privacy/.

Considering the fact that much of the genealogical research being done today is online using online resources and websites, it is important to understand the basic principle of privacy, whatever your viewpoint. If you want to keep something "private," do not put it on the internet. This also means that you should refrain from having "private" family trees. Most of the feelings concerning privacy arise from individual genealogists claiming ownership of the research and work they do in building a family tree. 

In this regard, it is important to understand the difference between maintaining a preliminary working file and entering information into an online family tree. If you want to maintain a working file, do so on a desktop program where any connection to the internet is highly controlled. FamilySearch.org is a prime example of a website where private files do not fit within the intent and structure of the FamilySearch Family Tree. 

Even if a website allows individual users to mark items, uploaded items, or family trees as private, doing so practically guarantees the loss of all the data shared in a private fashion when the contributor either retires or dies. 

Often neither pleasant nor comfortable and attempting to whitewash or protect your ancestors from their own difficulties and challenges, dramatically restricts the validity of any information provided. During my own genealogical research history, I have witnessed efforts to rewrite history by restricting access to records and also by rewriting historical records and misquoting them. Anything put on the internet should be clearly public. If you wish to maintain a working file or have private information, any information which you believe to be private, then do not put it on the internet.