Preliminary Policy Page
Yes, I finally got around to writing it down!

Privacy Policy Sections:
  1. Data Availability
  2. Data Policy Exceptions
  3. Logging Accesses to Data
The general rules governing data availability are as follows:
  1. Records concerning the deceased are generally available, except when the deceased possesses a currently living parent, child, or spouse.  This is to protect the identity of any such surviving individual, not the deceased him/herself.
  2. Some records regarding the deceased are not available on account of either a specific request from a descendant, the deceased lived in a location where individual vital statistics are not public record by local statute, or a promise not to disclose was necessary in order to obtain the information.
  3. Records concerning the living are generally restricted to those related to that individual (any blood relationship regardless of how distant), unless the living individual has specified a different policy.  Living persons listed in publicly available published works may or may not have their data in the public area, depending on what other data is present.  Records from The Book of Dow, published in 1929, are considered as available and unrestricted.
  4. It is noted that certain government databases may contain public data on individuals in the database (whether living or deceased).  However, generally, that is insufficient to cause a person's vital facts to be disclosed here - because those databases often do not indicate [sufficiently detailed] relationships between the persons in our database.  It is our policy not to permit disclosure of information (e.g. relationships between individuals) that isn't present in those public databases.
  5. It is our policy to challenge unauthorized postings of the data on individuals in our database (where a data restriction applies), especially (but not limited to) when no permission or notice has occurred.  However, data published prior to the adoption of this policy in a genealogy book is generally exempt from this requirement (when the published source is properly cited).
  6. When viewing public data at this site, should that lead the viewer to protected data, a login request will be prompted for.  Should the viewer not have an ID or password, selecting "Cancel" shall present a form page where access can be requested.  A similar procedure is used for error corrections and data additions.
In the furtherance of this policy, data appearing in the public web pages listed at this site is not restricted.  However, any genealogy data served via "https" (or SSL) is considered restricted and should not be reproduced or redistributed without permission.  It is possible that data normally to be protected may be made public if a match to our research is sought.

The following exceptions to the general policy have been granted:
Person Spouse Requested By Why Permitted? Where Found (URL)
Martha (Mary) Stussy Benjamin Franklin Mooney Judie Stuntz Authorized by a living descendant rootsweb.com database "jud" Individual "I213"
<Living> Stussy <Living> Pogue <Living> Cusick Authorized by the living him/herself rootsweb.com database ":1931330" Individual "I86953987"
Dortha Stussy <Living> Hayworth Viktor D. Skaggs Predated the establishment of our policy rootsweb.com database ":a21670" Individual "I2615"
Carl Stussy Pearl N. Varner David Hughes Published in a book in 1921 (spouse's lineage). rootsweb.com database "dghughes2" Individual "I11664"
If not listed here, no exception has been granted.

For those using the "WorldConnect" database at "rootsweb.com" (or its equivalent via "ancestry.com") and who do not have an exception granted, this means that you must use the "remove" option, not merely "clean", and as the oldest living member of our database was born between 1900 and 1910, the default year of 1930 must be changed to 1900.  Failure to take these steps will result in noncompliance with our policies.  See http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/FAQ/wcsubmit8.html for additional details regarding how to do this.

Privacy concerns regarding access at this web site (genealogy pages only):
  1. All queries for web resources and pages shall be logged.  The web server log entries will contain the IP address of the requester, the validated user identity (if "logged in"), the resource requested (full URL), the time of the request, the size of the response, and the status or error code.  These logs are generally purged after a short amount of time if no suspicious requests have occurred.  This does not apply to access and web page counters.  Queries into the vital records databases are likewise logged, but to aid in research, those queries are searchable by the public.
  2. Known web virus/worm requests are intercepted and the IP address of the offending system is locked out.  Should such an event occur from a proxy (e.g. AOL uses proxy servers for its users' requests), then the proxy is denied future service.  This part of the system is automatic and implemented directly by the web server software.  This same system also detects certain "web server abuse" and server hack attempts and locks out the offender's IP address.
  3. There shall be no dependence on JavaScript operation for the correct rendering of any web page.  A page may have embedded JavaScript for added functionality (e.g. linking two form input fields together) but no page should be designed to probe the visiting person's system for any data (without prior notice).
None of these concerns shall hold true for non-genealogy related pages or for the summary/overview pages, but those sub-site areas may adhere to the above if they choose.