Can someone clarify the requirements regarding permission from living people in a post?
The following alert shows up on individual memories: “Make sure you have permission from all living individuals in Memories that are set to public.” One particularly confusing thing about this requirement is the situation where you post a copy of an obituary. Assuming you have permission to post the obituary (to avoid copyright issues), is it necessary to obtain permission from the living people in that obituary? One would think that the originator of the obituary (a family member) has already obtained permission to make the names of the living individuals public before placement of the information on the funeral home website. Does permission still need to be obtained for a reposting of those names on FamilySearch? My confusion lies in the fact that many names of living individuals are seen on Source tab records in FamilySearch. (e.g. Census records, GenealogyBank records and other obituary records) I would guess that providers of those source records have not gone to the effort to verify if permission from all living people has been received in order to make public those source records. Is it a case of privacy laws allowing one type of record (Source) but not another (Memories) to publicly display that information without permission?
Answers
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I’ve talked this over with a colleague. Here is her answer:
No, obituary information is available to pretty much the entire world because it was published in a newspaper or more recently, online. Additionally, when you link living profiles to the source, they are still living profiles and not visible to anyone else.
If you are at all concerned, you can type in the obituary and just put ellipses (...) in when you get to the part that tells all the living individuals. Then they are not named in text, but folks could still go to the obituary itself and read it if you add the link.
Keep in mind, it is likely that the only people who will ever see such an obituary are family members who are researching on that line.
Here are some FamilySearch Help articles that provide more information regarding this subject.
Can I add memories about my living relatives to Family Tree?
Guidance on visibility of Memories.
If you have more questions regarding legality issues, you can check a wonderful source. . . Judy G. Russell’s website: The Legal Genealogist.
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One more thought. If you are interested in working with Memories and Sources that include a majority of living individuals, one good option is to begin a Family Group. This FamilySearch tool allows you to invite living relatives/friends to share a tree, share Memories, send messages, etc.
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