We have been robbed!. Not once, but twice! Firstly, by a Very Large, Highly Respectable, Organisation. We still aren’t clear what possessed them. Over-enthusiasm? Naievete? Or sheer thoughtlessness? Whatever the cause, the result has been highly damaging. Whole datasets from our SynagogueScribes database and large amounts of data from our CemeteryScribes website have been copied to their website without permission or proper consultation. Once alerted to these infringements, and, to their credit, they are now acting to redress the situation. And, because they are an organisation who are interested in the promotion of properly researched genealogy, the data has not been intentionally tampered with, although some of the Hebrew parts of the records appear to have been incorrectly entered. Unfortunately, at the same time as incorporating this material into their own searchable database, they also made it available in the form of a downloadable gedcom, with no immediately apparent restrictions on use. We cannot know how many people have downloaded this gedcom – which contains unauthorised transcripts from other providers, not just ourselves. Nor what use they may put it to. Worse case scenario is that it could fetch up on a pay-to-view site and researchers will find themselves paying [...]
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