Identity Theft
Is Identity Theft a Legitimate Concern for Genealogists?
Publishing personal facts in an online family tree may put your relatives at risk for identity theft. Or is the threat more of an urban legend?
This type of fraud really isn't all that new, but has become the latest crime buzz-word, often tied to careless use of the Internet and credit cards.
This can sometimes cause worry among genealogists who publish their family trees on a website. I know I have been thinking about identity theft as I consider creating my own website. Are we helping criminals by posting names along with birth dates and more?
Well, technically, yes we are offering up somewhat valuable information up for the taking. But the reality is that this seldom happens.
Most crimes deemed as "identity theft" usually aren't much more than credit card fraud, not the full creation of a fraudulent identity. In other words, thieves are far more likely to steal your wallet, find bank statements in your trash or intercept your email in order to steal personal information. They don't usually go through the extra effort of trying to create fake birth or marriage records in order to duplicate your life. Of course, there are exceptions and I am strictly speaking in generalizations here.
Another fact to consider, is that most vital record information is available online anyway, or at least available with minimal cost or effort through the mail. In many cases, you are posting information that could easily be acquired through other means.
Though the risks may be low, there are a few steps that many genealogists take to protect their relatives when posting family tree information on the Internet. The most common (and easiest) is to hide the personal info for the first 2 generations. This basically covers anyone who is currently still living. By personal info, I am referring to birth dates, marriage dates, school information and any addresses.
Any decent software program that allows you to export your files into web pages will likely also have a "privatization" features that will blank out these types of facts for anyone living. Or if you want a more thorough solution, you could have your published tree come to an end with the last deceased generation.
You could also choose not to publish any living relatives at all. I am planning on publishing my own family tree as a website soon, and I think I will likely just blank out the details for the recent generation of living people. I feel that's adequate protection. Granted, I have not done that much modern-day research and the bulk of my tree is fairly far in the past.
Sources from Consumeraffairs.com:
Identity Theft Study Leaves Questions Unanswered
Identity Theft More Prevalent Offline, Report Finds
