GDPR / WorldFamiliesNetwork / WikiTree and DNA

Four letters that are creating challenges for the genealogical community and genetic genealogists in particular.

They cannot be ignored, they wont go away, but several sites and/or features we use are either changing or disappearing, directly or indirectly as a result.

Several posts of relevance:
DNAeXplained re GDPR implications and the demise of ySearch, mitoSearch and now WorldFamilies
WikiTree privacy changes thanks to GDPR
WorldFamlies Network - extract from the email to those Administrators of hosted projects there is included in the DNAeXplained blog above.
The changes to projects at FamilyTreeDNA will be the subject of a separate post.

For a dose of reality:
https://iconewsblog.org.uk/2017/08/09/gdpr-sorting-the-fact-from-the-fiction/

WorldFamilies Network (WFN)
This site has hosted Patriarchs and Result pages for several of the projects in the sidebar for many years:
Fairbairn, Runciman, Sinton, Dawe, Wight, McAdie, McKeich, Finlayson, Rowe,
all of which pages have now disappeared.
yDNA results will of course remain as part of the FamilyTreeDNA project result pages but will no longer be linked to their accompanying pedigree on the WFN Patriarch's page (which was only done with permission of the participants, and may, also have depending on the family, included links to he DNASurnames site this is the project diary for).

I recommend, strongly even, that you consider the use of WikiTree to preserve / publish at least the bare bones of your pedigree, and optionally use the WikiTree DNA facilities there to continue indicating that you have DNA tested.

WikiTree
Has removed DNA information from, and mark as "unlisted", anyone who has not themselves registered to use the site.
This impacts those people who manage profiles, and DNA test information on behalf of others, and all of us who use the DNA features to find DNA tested relatives for ancestors of interest as it has resulted in a loss of overall DNA tested information on many lines, regardless of whether or not any belong to anywhere near the EU.
So, if you wish to continue utilising the wonderful DNA features of WikiTree and receive a request to register for the site, please do so.
No further effort is required if you don't wish to contribute further but are comfortable being shown as tested, and connected to your pedigree.

Many links on the DNASurnames pages will need reviewing as a result of the above and will be corrected over time.

FTDNA settings revision for 28th May 2018

Those who tested at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) should have all received the message below this week.

There is a wonderful improvement in there.
The separation of matching and notifications.
You can now elect to remain in the matching pools for all levels of tests but NOT be notified of eg all those yDNA12 marker matches and those HVR1 mtDNA ones.
I've always put up with them and simply deleted the messages because someone somewhere might want to know the match exists and explore further.
This has not been possible up to now (or from May 28th 2018 when these all take effect).
Opting out of the matching at the lower levels to get rid of the notifications hid the match and details from view, from both yourself, and any matches, along with your desired effect, fewer emails.

I was initially concerned about the apparent changes to the Family Tree visibility as there was no explicit setting obvious to continue to allow you to hide the living, or those born within 100 years
But actually reading the FAQ pointed to below eased that concern.
It reads:
--------

The Family Tree Sharing section is where you can choose whether or not to share your family tree and with whom you share it.

For family tree sharing, select one of the following options in the drop-down list:

• Public – By Public, we mean that if you are linked to a match’s tree and that match shares their tree, or if one of their matches views the tree, your information will be displayed on their shared tree.
• My Matches
• Private 

Please note that when you select to share your family tree, living people born less than 100 years ago will not be displayed. You, deceased individuals, and individuals born more than 100 years ago will be displayed.

------------ 

For most people, the current settings will continue to be fine, you belong to your projects, your privacy settings remain the same but you can now tweak your notifications more finely without messing your matches.

For the future, new testers will appear to need more education on the impacts of the defaults, particularly for projects. More information once impacts learnt and digested.

The email received from FTDNA:

Dear Valued Customer,

We’re updating our Account Settings options and wanted to give you an overview of some of what’s new. These changes impact the options for Privacy & Sharing, Project Preferences, and Email Notifications.

Anytime we make updates, we hope to make it easy for you to understand your choices and the control you have over your data on FamilyTreeDNA.

Check out the below posts in the Learning Center for full details.

Here's what has changed

Privacy & Sharing

We are updating the options in your matching preferences and will allow you to opt out of match email notifications but still participate in matching.

Family Tree sharing is now located in Privacy & Sharing.
LEARN MORE (link takes you to: https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/my-account/my-privacy-and-sharing-page/ )

Project Preferences

When joining a Group Project, members can select a Group Administrator access level for each individual Group Administrator.
LEARN MORE (link takes you to: https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/my-account/my-project-preferences-page/)

Email Notifications

We’ve separated DNA matching and new match email notification settings, allowing you to disable email notifications without disabling matching.
LEARN MORE (link takes you to:  https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/my-account/my-notification-preferences-page/

Next steps

Please visit your My Profile pages to see the above changes and to review and update your Matching Levels, Email Notifications, and Project Preferences. Please note that changes to Project Preferences will not go into effect until May 25th, 2018. This means you can choose your settings but they will not be implemented until May 25th.

In addition to the above changes, we have also updated the Account Information and Genealogy sections in your My Profile pages. For more details on these changes, click the links to visit the Learning Center.

Your privacy comes first in all of these updates. We now meet the high standard for data privacy introduced by the new European data protection law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect later in May. FamilyTreeDNA members around the world will benefit from the new privacy requirements mandated by the GDPR.

 

We will be sure to keep you informed as we continue to release updates to your account settings.

Thanks for being a part of the family,
FamilyTreeDNA

 

===============

FTDNA privacy settings

If results/matches aren't showing up as expected on your shiny, brand new results, this post by Roberta Estes on her DNA Explained blog may show you why.

http://dna-explained.com/2015/07/27/family-tree-dna-new-privacy-settings/