Why have ALL Sri Lanka-Dutch Ceylon and British Ceylon records taken offline?
All the records for Sri Lanka are now not available except for Salt Lake City Library, even the Dutch Church records which have been available online for years. I do not mind looking at un-indexed records by date and District, but to take all records for a Country, even the indexed ones offline is not right.
Answers
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I am not connected with FamilySearch
I tried a few sets of records, and none were available.
I suspect legislation may have become more restrictive and that is why the images are no longer available.
However, assuming that the legislation has changed, what I think is very poor on the part of FamilySearch is that various links are saying that the information IS available
As an example https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1780708 says BROWSE ALL 33,965 IMAGES. However when you click through nothing I tried was available.
This link https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/1780708 if you scroll down says Sri Lanka, Colombo District, Dutch Reformed Church Records are available online, click here. This clicks through to the link previously given
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@SerraNola Can you confirm if Sri Lanka is among those countries where recent privacy restrictions are being implemented?
Thanks.
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Yes, I can confirm that Sri Lanka is included. I’m not sure why all church records have been restricted, regardless of the date range listed in the film metadata. It could be due to a change in contractual agreements or simply a decision made under time constraints to remove records quickly. Hopefully, it is the latter and after further review, some records may be restored.
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Thanks @SerraNola
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@serranola could you point me to the legislation/privacy restrictions in question? I am from Sri Lanka and I am not aware of any such new legislation or is it US law?
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The Rights Management team has just let me know that, following instructions from the Office of General Counsel, all content related to Sri Lanka is currently restricted. That’s all the information I have at this time.
Through my own research, I discovered that Sri Lanka enacted its first Personal Data Protection Act in 2022, which was to be implemented over a 36-month period and requires significant compliance from data handlers. So, while I recognize that losing these collections is disappointing to many of our FS users, the matter is beyond our control.
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Thank you. So the only way to access it would be in person in Utah?
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@George26360 No, there is not a physical copy of the microfilm available at the library. It is stored in the Granite Vault and cannot be accessed at this time. The best way to find what microfilms are in the library is to search the library's catalog with the microfilm number:
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@SerraNola Will FamilySearch try to work with Sri Lankan archives to make it possible for access to some records can be restored in compliance with the new law? Many of these records concern individuals who have already passed away and may not apply under the new law.
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@Praveen Prabaharan I would have to agree with you that not all of the civil and church records in our collections are outside of the years outlined in the local laws, but at this time FamilySearch cannot legally make them available. There is every possibility that could change in the future.
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@SerraNola are the records still physically viewable in Utah or are those unavailable as well?
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@George26360 No, I'm sorry they are not available at the Salt Lake Library for viewing.
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@SerraNola - so there is no possibility even in person to see these records? They are completely lost to the community?
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@George26360 My query to Rights Management was to understand why all records were restricted and I did share the concerns of Community over their loss. Their reply was that they were following instructions from the Office of General Counsel. It appears our current contract with the archive doesn't permit publication. Nevertheless, as FamilySearch retains copies, there remains the possibility that future contractual developments could reinstate access.
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