FamilySearch has come up with a new feature that I suggest you ignore, the invitation to upload not only the photos of your ancestors for the world to see, but photos of your own face. Of course this will be coordinated with your account and the research you're doing which is supposed to begin with you and your own family. Perhaps you would like to totally give away your privacy and that of those connected to you by also willingly linking your DNA results.
It looks like fun - a game - and is promoted as such - aren't we all warm and fuzzy? - but what really is happening here? You do know that the company owns the rights to your research and all else you post right? Read the fine print. It will become part of "Intellectual Preserve." Do they or will they sell your information. Currently they say they won't but in the future?
As intentions besides the research of and preservation of genealogy and family history research become more common, I see the dark side.
One of the many reasons people used to hire a genealogist was for the preservation of their privacy. Family History and genealogy books and charts a professional composed were just for family, people you knew, a few copies. Many published books eliminated the latest generation, so only if you could prove the links to those - deceased - listed - was it valuable to you.
Perhaps in some parts of the country people still leave their doors unlocked and welcome neighbors to come on in. There is absolutely no way for FamilySearch to know the reasons why certain criminally minded people - stalkers - Identity thieves - and rapists - and the all too common people who want to get to know you without you knowing it - use their databases. To be fair, no genealogy database offers privacy once you post, so I suggest you print out or save your research elsewhere, whatever you use.
Take it from someone who has been stalked by someone who had a fantasy that he was dating me, someone who went up to people he saw talking to me, claiming to be my "friend" and asking personal questions, including where I worked. Come now - when someone is your friend then you told them - not some gossip.
Or perhaps consider my neighbor down the street whose parents lost their entire life savings when they wired it to Mexico. The person who called them know their names, the name of their grand-son, where he went to college and that he was on break. They said he had gone to Mexico to a friend's wedding, mentioning a name that also sounded familiar to them, it had gotten too wild, and he was sitting in a prison, which was going to cost them legal fees, ruin his education, and his reputation. All lies. For $40,000 he could be let out. So they sent the money. Talking about this, it is likely the thieves used genealogy databases as part of their research about this elderly couple. They lived in fear when they learned the truth that the criminals would come to their house.
Think three times about uploading your photos and if someone else in your family does this without your permission, well, I'd dump them. That's totally disrespectful.
C 2020 Ancestry Worship Genealogy
