General Chat

Hello all.

The password issues --

- when you see your password displayed, it is on your account details page, and you have already given your password to get into that page

- the 'dots' you see where your password goes are put there by your browser, not GR -- either your browser automatically saves passwords for you, or it asked you once long ago whether you wanted it to save this password, and you said 'yes'

So not to worry - neither of these is a security problem.


About the 'name not allowed' business -- I *think* this relates to username, and I think GR made some changes a while back that limit what can be used for a username.

One thing may be that you can't have a two-word username any more. That's why mine is EvieBeavie, not Evie Beavie.

Er, is that Yu, Su??

BrinleyS -- bit of a problem indeed!

The problem is that this website's owners are being provided with its subscribers' personal data, and are disclosing that data to other users of the website without the express consent of the subscribers.

Bit of a big problem, eh what?!

Never fear chaps, no matter what board name you choose, or are allowed to use..........your membership no. will stay the same, unless of course you do as others have done,
resign/delete yourself, or whatever the term is.......
to shed your OLD identity,or hide your original character?
and rejoin with a NEW account and a new personna....

to MY mind unless you have something to hide ( what a wonderful phrase that is!!) its not worth paying double the fee per year.........

This is important.

GenesReunited's Privacy Policy -- linked down at the bottom of the page -- excerpts:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/static/privacy.aspx

_______________________________________________________________

2.The information we gather and track.

Information gathered on registration. When you register for the Genes Reunited Service, you provide your name (including a previous name, where relevant), your email address, your gender, your place and country of birth and some optional information about yourself such as Marital Status. They are available to you, and capable of being changed, through the "My Account Details" page. ...


3.Sharing and use of information

* The over-riding principles we apply are these:

* i. We, and (where relevant) our credit card processing agents, will not supply your personal data to a third party for commercial exploitation - thus, you can rest assured that we will not sell the lists of our Members' email addresses to a third party; and
* ii. the only circumstances in which we will provide any of your personal data to a third party for non-commercial purposes are those contained in this Privacy Policy.

* Registration Information.
The details you provide on Registration, and the details of those you enter into your family tree are only available to you, except that names, year of birth and place of birth for you and those in your tree are searchable by other Members. Search results from your tree will only be associated with you by your first name (which will be displayed together with the search results), and your email address is never revealed. ...

_______________________________________________________________


Now -- where there does it say

"if another member of this website clicks on your username, or receives a private message from you, they will be shown your full name, including your birth surname, as you have provided it in your account details"?


Hint: it does not say that.

It says:

"Search results from your tree will only be associated with you by your first name (which will be displayed together with the search results)"

And that is *false*.

I think that this is being blown up out of all proportion. If GR were "disclosing" your address, your bank account or credit card details, your telephone number or your email address, then yes there would be grounds for complaint.

As far as I can tell, apart from the ability to record a separate 'Comunity Name' nothing has actually changed since the site was first started.

Anyone on Friends Reunited?

jean,300171 - sorry - this thread is not about multiple identities or account numbers.

It is about members of this website protecting themselves against unauthorized disclosure of their identity and personal data to other users, by the website owners.

BrinleyS, I think you're either missing or evading the point.

If you wish to disclose your name, i.e. your identity, to any one of the millions of registered users of this website who clicks on your username, that is your choice.

Anyone who does not wish to do so is entitled to that choice.

And anyone who does not wish to do so is entitled not to have that information disclosed by the website without his or her knowledge or consent.

If you object to that principle, that's your prerogative. Your opinion is of no relevance to anyone else's wishes in this regard.

nudge for later

Evie .......sorry about that,

jean,300171 - sorry - this thread is not about multiple identities or account numbers

I was working o/h's machine, it was I that made the comment about previous names etc......(in response to members trying to "Lose" themselves by changing board names....)

Bob

Well Bob! My Friday guffaw. Concealing your identity were you then? ;)

He he hee. Excuse me while I mop up the diet coke!

LOL

splutter splutter!!

not really
MY machine was busy printing photographs, and meanwhile,I was using hers to keep up with Genes.....

Bob

Evie,

Clearly you feel strongly about keeping your anonymity,, and that is your perrogative. As I said I have not seen any evidence that GR are disclosing members personal data (and by personal data I mean information other than just your name) so I doubt if any rules or laws are being breached.

I thought it might be interesting to quote from a message that you posted in November 2008 to a response for assistance. I just wonder what has changed that you now have such a strong view about keeping names hiden in a few short months.


"....It would also be wise for you to put a tree at GR, with your name and your mother's name and at least an approximate birthdate for her, in case anyone else does a search to find you or her....."

Oh, my. You have a dossier on me, BrinleyS. I am thrilled.

And people wonder why I suggest they be concerned about disclosing personal information here ...

That really is very impressive, BrinleyS. Did it take you a while to find that, or do you keep a special file just about me, or do you maintain those kinds of records about all posters here?


I'll bet you also saw, in that thread, that I said:

"I am sending info about [the member]'s birth registration by private message. ([member's name], you may have that info, but I wasn't sure from what you said.)"

Even though she gave her birthdate in the thread, I sent her the registration details privately. I regularly object to the posting of the birth/marriage details of probably living people on these boards, even if that info is available from online databases. Collecting it and publishing it here (where, as we now all know, it can be found e.g. by Google) is just different.

You seem to be suggesting that advising a member *who is looking for her birth family and who has already disclosed information about herself for that purpose* to put that information, and information about her mother who would be nearly 90 years old if alive, in her GR tree, is somehow the same as GenesReunited disclosing a subscriber's identity to other users without the subscriber's knowledge or consent.

I think you're confused.


"(and by personal data I mean information other than just your name)"

And by black, I mean white.


Now, if you have a purpose for posting in this thread, perhaps you will state it.

My purpose is to inform my fellow members of GR that their identity is being disclosed to other members, if they did not know this already, and to explain to them how to prevent this from happening if they do not wish that to happen. You seem to be displeased about this. Oh well then.

I'm very grateful to EvieBeavie for high lighting this. I went anonymous because I felt a bit threatened by something. I had no idea that my own name or names were still available to anyone who clicked on my community name. I understood that by choosing a Community name no one would know who I was. For the same reason I've only ever asked twice for help under the above name because I don't want to be traced by checking who was searching for the same names. (Sorry too many names there).
Apart from the perceived threat I had also attracted a tree thief and had felt free to moan about the thief. thankfully that person dosen't appear to read the boards or recoginise themselves!

StayingPositiveSu --

You're not the Su I thought yu were. ;)

Just to let you know -- when I click on your name, I still see your real name -- or what I assume is your real name!

You still need to fix the "account name" part of your account details, if you don't want that to happen. For instance, you could be

given name SP
birth surname Su
current surname Su

Evie,

Google, is a wonderful thing - you don't need to keep a dossier.

I also think it is highly commendable that you feel so strongly, and in fact I am far from displeased that you are doing so.

As it happens I think you are absolutely correct (apart from your inferrence that GR are disclosing personal data other than your name) and if other members wish to remove their identity from the site they now know how to do it.

My purpose for contributing? I can't dislose that, it's personal.

Well just for that record ... dossier ...

I have not implied that any personal information other than a member's name (oh, yes -- and the name of someone in a member's tree, as the "relation" in members' contacts lists) is being disclosed by this website to anyone. In fact, I have tried to explain that that is not the case (e.g. no one else can access someone's account details page itself, or password or credit card details, for instance by googling).

If you inferred that I had implied such a thing, you inferred incorrectly.

Evie,

Excellent thread. I've changed my personal details already.

Due to a lack of imagination, I put old family forenames in one pot, old surnames in the other, and drew at random.

Hmmmm.....unfortunate....but what's in a name.

Gordon Bennett! Cor blimey.

I trust that I'm not revealing anything. ;)