Family Tree Site Exposes Private Data

The problem of shady privacy policies

By now you shouldn’t be surprised that once a piece of your private information drops online, there’s no way to permanently remove it forever. Despite the efforts made by other websites to ensure that you can indeed delete everything related to you, FamilyTreeNow.com still managed to commit the worst crime possible against individual privacy: it exposes people’s private information for free. Problems start right from the registration, because the website collects information the moment you first interact therewith. From then on, every time you search for a name, the website gathers information through a variety of methods, including browser cookies. This way the site can effectively store your IP address, ISP and identify the device browser and operating system used.

Quite sadly, there is nothing newsworthy in this discovery, since FamilyTreeNow.com operates using the same methods as other people-finder sites like Ancestry.com, 411.com, InstantCheckmate or the online white pages. What is shocking, though, is the fact that someone actually went through the privacy policy of the website – which is already a miracle, since no one has the will to read these long and boring documents. In the case of FamilyTreeNow.com, said user discovered a link allowing users to opt out. The process is tedious, but at least not impossible: if you click said link and do one more search, you will see a red “opt out this record” button on the record to be deleted. Then you have to click on that button as well to commence a 48-hour period during which your request is processed and completed.

However, keep in mind that this step won’t clean your entire online footprints related to FamilyTreeNow.com. Let’s face it, most information ends ups being shared voluntarily anyway, especially on social media.

To avoid this scenario, you are the one that needs to take measures in the first place. Most of all, you must acknowledge that it is pretty much impossible to delete every single trace of your online existence. Therefore, always be careful what information you share online. It is also more than advisable to look after the online identity of your unsuspecting loved ones, starting with those you want to protect the most. The best way to look after your family and their internet connected devices, particularly those used by your children (i.e. smart toys) , is by using a VPN. Opting for a VPN router will protect your entire house’s network and assure secure and encrypted connections for all devices, thus making it impossible for any hackers or eavesdroppers to spy on you and steal any of your data.