Ethical dilemmas

In doing my research, I have so far encountered 3 types of ethical challenges, where I have had to think about issues connected with the information I have obtained and whether to publish it or not on my web site.

Firstly, now and then I uncover something new about an ancestor. Usually this is classic stuff like their parents' names and places of birth.

But sometimes I discover under age marriages, illegitimate children, mysterious early deaths, backyard burials and other snippets about their lives.

And therein lies a dilemma. Do I publish it on the web for all to see or not? Is it exposing family scandals or simply adding a bit of colour to the black and white information (names, dob, etc) I have ?

Then there is the issue around what to publish about living ancestors - I guess that means they are relatives. Do I publish recent photos of them, information about their dates of birth, marriages etc?

What are the risks of doing this? Is identity theft really possible just with a few pieces of information published about them on my web site?

Finally, there is the issue around what I should do with information sent to me or shared with me by another researcher. Do I just assume that I can put it on my web site? Is there such a thing as copyright over publicly available information??

All interesting things to grapple with as I continue my research, and here's my take on them:

1 - I feel comfortable publishing ANY information that I discover about ANY ancestors prior to my grandparents.

Two reasons: I don't feel any shame at all about them, they are part of my history, part of my make up and in fact I feel proud about their struggles. It can't have been easy being extremely poor, transported to Australia or banished from their families.

And it is unlikely that any living relatives will have strong memories of them and so feel offended by anything I might publish. This is why I don't include my grandparents in the above (not that I have anything that I would have otherwise published anyway).

2 - I am happy to publish on my web site any information that a living relative is happy to share with me, knowing it might end up on my site.

This boils down to their dates of birth, maiden and married names, names of children. I am yet to be convinced that anyone can steal someone's identity just by having this information. Surely they need documentary evidence to support their claims. Besides which, this info is easily obtainable from many public offices anyway.

3 - If I think any information shared with me by another researcher would be of interest to visitors to my web site, I ask before publishing it and I credit the source.

To me this is just plain old good manners. Most people so far have been happy for me to publish pieces of what they have shared, though some have preferred I didn't. So I don't. In addition to betraying their trust, it is a little like "biting the hand that feeds" and I value the relationships I have struck with many of these people.

So they're my dilemmas and how I deal with them. People probably have other views on how they would handle them but as long as I stick to these principles, it is clear to those who share info with me or visit my web site, where I have drawn lines.