Make profiles of living people local to our personal computers?

Question

In light of the recent changes to privacy rules on Wikitree motivated by the GDPR, I wonder if it would be possible to re-architect Wikitree so that profiles of living people can be seemlessly stored on a member's personal computer and connected to those of dead people in the Wikitree cloud? Then there would be no issue of sharing data about living people in a way that would violate anyone's privacy.  

I love the Wikitree interface, and I would like to continue to contribute, but using two different ways of storing living people (like in a private genealogy tool) and dead people (in Wikitree) is just too cumbersome.

Comments

I guess I don't see why that would be needed.  You can still add living people to wikitree yourself, but you will be the only person that can see that information.  I don't see how putting them on your personal computer changes that at all.

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The New Wikitree Privacy code requires that you get the permission of someone to post a profile of them, if they are alive. Are you saying that it would be illegal for me to research a family tree for my own personal use, that includes living people, and keep it on my personal computer without sharing that info with anyone?

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"The New Wikitree Privacy code requires that you get the permission of someone to post a profile of them, if they are alive."  I don't believe that is the case.  See the Wikitree Privacy information and GDPR FAQ.  It is still possible/allowable to create a profile of a living non-member.  The new policy is that those profiles will be Unlisted.  I believe that D. Botkin's point is that there's no need to modify Wikitree to link to local PC data, since the information in an Unlisted profile is only accessible by the profile's creator.

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That's what I was trying to say, but you said it better. :)

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Also see new Wikitree Privacy Policy, Information on Living Family Members.

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The privacy policy states:

Members can add personal information about their living family members, however:

• Profiles that contain information on living people who are not WikiTree members and therefore have not explicitly agreed to our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy must use our "Unlisted" privacy setting.
• You must not share information regarding a living person without that person’s explicit permission.
• You must not share information about a living child under 16 without parental consent.
• You must not share any information about a living child under 13 unless you are their parent and legal guardian. Even profiles of children created by parents should be considered placeholders only and not contain any sensitive information.
• You must not share any information about DNA tests for other living people.

So, I guess it comes down to what it means to "share" information about a living person.  Is posting a profile of a living person "sharing" information about that person?  To post the profile of a living person, nowadays, you often have to enter an estimated birth date.  Is that considered sharing?  I'm looking for some clarity here.

 

I really enjoy working on Wikitree, and I am trying to make sure that I stay in compliance with the rules.I don't want to violate the privacy policy or honor code.  So, help me out here.  What is "sharing" exactly?

 

Does it mean that I can't add someone to the trusted list of a living person without the permission of the person of whom the profile is written?  Does it mean I can't send the info to someone else in e-mail? 

 

  

 

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Another issue with Unlisted is that it is protected from being seen by any random outsider.  But surely the system administrator can read the Unlisted profiles, can;t he or she? And if so, is giving him or her access to the info in the profile considered "sharing" that info with the Wikitree system managers?

Answer 1

I cannot see how that would exempt you from needing their consent to hold their data.