1) Ancestry.com License and Terms and Conditions of Use

“Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by Ancestry,[Bolding added for emphasis] or third party providers and may be used only in accordance with this limited use license.”

The above is where they claim ownership of ALL information on Ancestry.”

The third party providers mentioned include the member submitted content, thus Ancestry is *not* claiming ownership of it.

2) “By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant Ancestry, the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate.

This means they can do whatever they want with the information including sell it in any form. Also, it is “sold” in the respect that they charge people to view information freely submitted by others. This is where I believe they should not be charging people to view trees or boards.”

This applies only as long as a person leaves their content on Ancestry. Otherwise all the information on all those USGENWEB sites that pulled their a couple of years ago would still be on Ancestry.

Use of the Trees and/or Message Boards is totally free and no one is charged to see the trees- all anyone needs is an invitation to see the Trees if they aren’t a subscriber and ALL message boards are totally free.

Here is my basic point… even if everything in that contract meant what you think is means people still wouldn’t have a right to complain about it as they agree to those terms when joining Ancestry.

If someone is too lazy, stupid, or irresponsible to read- and more importantly, to understand – the terms of a contract they are getting ready to enter into then they have only themselves to blame if they don’t like the results. It is called due diligence and personal responsibility. For those types of people I have no sympathy whatsoever.

Thank you, your feedback has been submitted.
Database: World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Problem type: Missing Image

Ancestry…Thank you very much for making those databases available for your anniversary. It was a nice touch. Also nice to see the employee “profiles” and learn about some of the real people behind the data!

Happy anniversary!

Glad you got a good price on your renewal!

1) Here is the information in their terms of service that says user content belongs to them:

Ancestry.com License and Terms and Conditions of Use

“Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by Ancestry, or third party providers and may be used only in accordance with this limited use license.”

The above is where they claim ownership of ALL information on Ancestry.

Under User Provided Content

“By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant Ancestry, the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate.”

This means they can do whatever they want with the information including sell it in any form. Also, it is “sold” in the respect that they charge people to view information freely submitted by others. This is where I believe they should not be charging people to view trees or boards. Any other databases, yes, but trees and boards, NO! All members – paid and free – have the option to make their trees private, so if someone does not want the public to access the trees, they can opt for it.

2)Amen on most of the information on trees being not worth while. However, it is a good starting off point for people to make contact with others who have trees posted with known family members.

3)Rates can, and do, go up on a number of things, especially perishable goods. Ancestry is a database and, yes, I still feel that after a certain number of years of membership, rates should be frozen. (Tell me you wouldn’t appreciate that There are business which give loyalty discounts. I can think of at least two auto insurers which have loyalty discounts. Many businesses have discount cards for members plus there are frequent flyer/rental credits.

Hope this clarifies my stand on the issues. I’ve an open mind and look forward to your comments.

Let’s take this one point at a time…

1)”I really do not know if Roots and Ancestry were seperate and Ancestry bought them out, but I have many gen friends who were NOT aware of the fact that information they have FREELY placed on Ancestry and/or Roots Web then BELONGS to Ancestry and then Ancestry can and do sell it.”

I am soooo tired of hearing this.
Please quote the paragraph and clause in any Terms of Service or Subscription Contract where Ancestry claims that user submitted content belongs to them [Hint: you can't because they don't]

Please provide specific examples of specific user submitted content that was sold by either Ancestry or Rootsweb. {Hint: You can’t because they haven’t].

2)”And why should they disallow access to trees that have been donated to them?”

Because 99.99% of the trees are worthless junkology to most serious genealogical researchers.

3)”A friend of mine was a loooooong time member of Ancestry. Why did she leave? First of all, after about 10 years and many price increases, she felt it wasn’t worth the money. For those who have been long-term members, there should be some kind of loyalty discount. I agreed that, after 10 years (she’s not LDS) there wasn’t a lot more she could find. Then, her cousin joined Ancestry and was given a rate about $50 less expensive than what she was paying. She was told that, had she called Ancestry when her renewal came up, she could have received the lower rate. (Andy, give ‘em a call and get your rate lowered…)”

And did you ask your friend how many rate increases she had in her phone rates, tax rates, utility rates, gasoline rates, food prices, etc. she had over the same period of time? People who don’t expect rates to go up are living in a dream world!

Did you also ask her how many of those services gave ‘loyalty’ discounts? You’ll find that the vast majority of businesses do not offer such – so why expect it from Ancestry?

Btw- I got my most recent subscription at the new member’s price as I subscribed the day after my old one expired. *grin*

And why should they disallow access to trees that have been donated to them?

A friend of mine was a loooooong time member of Ancestry. Why did she leave? First of all, after about 10 years and many price increases, she felt it wasn’t worth the money. For those who have been long-term members, there should be some kind of loyalty discount. I agreed that, after 10 years (she’s not LDS) there wasn’t a lot more she could find.

Then, her cousin joined Ancestry and was given a rate about $50 less expensive than what she was paying. She was told that, had she called Ancestry when her renewal came up, she could have received the lower rate. (Andy, give ‘em a call and get your rate lowered…)

* sigh *

I concur with your comment. Good ideas and even they are not taken up then I am sure there is food for thought.

S