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Data protection

Introduction

Omega's data privacy functionality allows users to exclude certain information from reports, even if it is recorded in the file. This omission is automatic and rule-based. Users cannot individually specify which individuals or family history details should be included or excluded.

This functionality allows users to omit personal data recorded in the database that is not intended for public release from analyses intended for publication. This functionality was coordinated with contacts at the Working Group for Saarland Family History (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für saarländische Familienkunde e. V.), the Association for Local History in the Saarlouis District (Verein für die Heimatkunde im Landkreis Saarlouis e. V.), and the West German Society for Family History (Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde e. V.).

This functionality is disabled by default and can be enabled in the Omega settings under Evaluations | Privacy | Rule .

Generally, all individuals included in the analysis are listed in the report, based on the total amount of data collected, according to the Omega settings for reports . If a data protection rule applies, the scope of the data displayed will be limited.

Data protection rule

The data protection rule is date-specific. This date can be entered in the Omega settings under Reports | Data Protection | Date . Typically, the date set as the date in the future on which the publication is to take place is chosen.

Two options can be selected in the Omega settings under Evaluations | Privacy | Rule .

Rule: Person-related

Under this rule, the person as such is either subject to data protection or not.

Data protection does not apply to individuals who have been deceased for a certain period of time on the reference date. A person is considered deceased if their date of death or burial is recorded and is more than the period specified under Evaluations | Data Protection | Personal | Years since Death (default: 0 years) prior to the reference date. If neither the date of death nor the date of burial is recorded, the person is presumed deceased if more than the period specified under Evaluations | Data Protection | Personal | Years since Birth (default: 110 years) has elapsed since their birth or, alternatively, their baptism. Data protection also does not apply if the date of any of the events (birth, baptism, death, burial) is not recorded.

This corresponds to the rule on page 27 of the recommendations for the development and design of resident registers of the Working Group for Saarland Family History e. V.

Rule Event-related

Under this rule, individual family history facts about a person are either subject to data protection or not.

The facts are grouped as follows:

  1. Birth and baptism records, including date, place, and sources, as well as godparents, are subject to data protection regulations unless at least 110 years have passed since the birth or, alternatively, the baptism. Data protection does not apply if the date is not recorded for either birth or baptism.
  2. Marriage details include dates, locations, and sources, as well as a free text field for comments. This information is subject to data protection regulations unless at least 80 years have passed since the most recent marriage date. Data protection does not apply if neither the civil nor the religious marriage date is recorded.
  3. Death and burial records include date, location, and sources, as well as a free text field for age/cause of death. This information is subject to data protection regulations unless at least the specified number of years (default: 30 years) has passed since the death or, alternatively, the baptism. Data protection does not apply if neither the date of death nor the burial is recorded.

Exclusion from data protection

Under Evaluations | Data Protection | Exclude Signatures, a signature scheme can be specified. Individuals with a signature matching this signature scheme are not subject to data protection regulations.

In the creation of local family registers , but also in other forms of evaluation, it is thus possible to identify persons who are listed with full data because, for example, they have consented to the publication of their data.

Example: The local family register for the town of Adorf is created based on the signature A All persons who have lived in Adorf are therefore signed with A Persons who would be subject to data protection regulations but have consented to the publication of their data receive the signature A+ . For the creation of the local family register, the signature scheme A* (letter A followed by any remaining text, including empty text) is selected under Evaluations | Evaluation Types | Local Family Register | Include Signatures . Under Evaluations | Data Protection | Exclude Signatures, the signature scheme A+ (letter A followed by a plus sign) is set to exclude persons signed with an additional plus sign from data protection.

Disclosure or omission of data (level of data protection)

Rule: Person-related

If the data protection rule applies to a person, there are three levels of omission depending on the Omega settings for evaluations | data protection | personal data | data protection level :
  1. omit person

    In the numbered evaluation formats of local family register, descendant list, and pedigree chart, but not in ancestor list and pedigree chart, the person does not receive their own number. Therefore, they do not constitute a family block, and their descendants are no longer shown in descendant lists and pedigree charts. The person is not included in any lists.

    If the person were to appear as a parent, spouse, or partner, the text "Man" or "Woman" would be displayed. If the person were to appear as a child, the text "Son ," "Daughter, " or " Child" would be displayed. No further data is shown. These generic texts are placed in parentheses to indicate that the names are present but have been suppressed for privacy reasons.

  2. Omit data

    The person's full name, a relevant location, their religion, and nothing else are displayed.

  3. Shortening data

    The full name of the person is shown, as well as, for each life event (birth, baptism, death, burial, civil and church marriage), only the year and place, and nothing else.

Special case: if in a marital or extramarital relationship even one of the two partners is subject to data protection, the marital data will be disclosed in accordance with the aforementioned scope.

Gender, signatures, and Kekulé numbers are not suppressed. For individuals whose data is suppressed, no religion is displayed. In these cases, this does not mean that the person has the default religion according to the settings.

Rule Event-related

If the data protection rule applies to a life event, there are two levels of omission depending on the Omega settings for evaluations | data protection | event-related | data protection level :
  1. Omit data

    All family history facts in the respective group (birth/baptism, marriage, or death/burial) are omitted.

  2. Shortening data

    For each life event in the respective group (birth/baptism, marriage, or death/burial), only the year and location are shown, and nothing else.

Notes

In the case of event-related rules, the same time periods are used for birth, baptism, death, burial, and church/civil marriage.

In the case of zwischen/und , the query is for the later date.

Data containing " vor ", nach ", and um are treated like exact data. This may lead to inaccuracies with um and " nach .

The data protection date is limited to the period from 01.01.2000 to 31.12.2047.