Genes Reunited and the Data Protection Act

[GlenB]

Some of my own details have been entered by a relative on Genes Reunited without my consent and these have then been copied by others.
Does this contravene the Data Protection Act in any way?

[scotman]

I think you need to explain what you mean by 'copied by others' and also how your relatives knew these details.

[craft1948]

I assume the relative has put them in his tree, and has then given others access to his tree.

[4getmenot]

realtives are going to know details of family members

[dzug2]

IF there is a breach of the Data Protection Act (and I'm not convinced there is) then it's your relative that has committed the breach

Genes Unlimited would only have committed a breach if you asked them to remove the information and they refused to do so without good reason - eg it's public domain data anyway.

[GlenB]

Craft1948 - Yes that is correct and those others are then giving are giving their trees even wider access.
4getmeknot - with respect I think that is beside the point. If I want to keep my family life to myself I don't see why details of me and living members of my family should be made widely available to others without my/our consent
Scotman - The relatives thought they knew the details but they contain errors.

Thank you all including dzug2 for your comments.

[twix123]

If you would prefer to hide details of living relatives when sharing your tree on Genes Reunited, go to My Account where you can change your tree preferences. I would suggest that you complete this step and request your relatives to do the same.

[GlenB]

Twix 123- Thanks for your comment. The point is I haven't shared my tree with anyone. My details (or what they thought were my details) have been entered by a relative on their tree and this has been shared with others on whose trees my details have also been entered. They also have entered details of other living relatives of mine who are not even users of Genes Reunited.

[jackthehat]

Contact GR and explain your concerns.

[steve99]

The data being made available on Genes Reunited (date of birth, name, etc) is likely already in the public domain and hence is not covered by the data protection act.
I could for example search the electoral role and find the same information about you.
Relationships between your relatives are also likely to available to the public already were to spend time searching for birth/death/marriage certificates.

Assuming that the information was not in the public domain and was covered by the data protection act there may well be a breach, but this breach would not be by genes reunited as they did not make the data available. The data has been made available by the person (or persons) who uploaded it to the genes reunited site and told the site to make it available to others.

I don't think the data protection act is being contravened in any way.

[GlenB]

Thank you all again for your comments.