Copy Of A Persons Documents

Question

Is it alright to post on a persons information a copy of the United States Census, Obituary, headstone picture, and so forth?

Answer 1

It depends, If you took a picture or made a digital image of the original yourself then yes. If you got the image from anywhere else then you need to be cautious about both copyright and terms of use. As an example I have a copy of my grandparents marriage record that I found on familysearch.org. By using their site I implied that I would agree to their terms of use and on their site they state that I may make a copy for personal use but may not put a cop on any other website, so I can not use that image here. I also have a copy of my grandmothers death notice from Pennsylvania and on it there is a notice that copying that is not permitted, so that one is out. I have pictures of some grave markers that I took and those are permitted.

Answer 2

This depends on the source.  While there's no copyright per se involved, most people get this sort of data from a source like Ancestry.com, of FamilySearch or Findagrave, and they have limitations as to what can be posted on another website.  So,say, for gravestone pictures you didn't take yourself, you need to at least cite where you got it and if you don't have permission from the person who took the picture (in the case of findagrave,) you shouldn't post it on Wikitree.  You can link to the picture  on a biography, which works well on Findagrave or Familysearch, but not so well with subscription sites like Ancestrry.com.  You might want to look at profiles which do have such documents and see how they do it.