YOUR PRIVACY
Read our full privacy policy.
Updated on June 24, 2014
The privacy of you and your family is important to Geni. You can find our full privacy policy below. Below you will find a simple explanation of Geni's privacy model as well as the full privacy policy. Here's how it works:
You can think of the profiles in your tree as being divided into two groups: private profiles and public profiles. Each time you add a profile to your tree, it is automatically assigned to one of the groups. Private profiles are intended for living relatives and minors. Public profiles are intended for deceased relatives and public figures.
PRIVATE PROFILES
PUBLIC PROFILES
Who is in each group?
Living Relatives
Minors Deceased Relatives
Presumed Deceased Relatives
Public Figures
Who can view profiles?
You
Your Family Group
Geni Curators
Geni Employees
Anyone
Who can edit profiles?
You
Your Family Group
Geni Curators
Geni Employees
Your Collaborators
Your Relatives
Geni Curators
Geni Employees
TREE PRIVACY
Only the people in your family group can view your tree.
PROFILE PRIVACY
By default, only your Family Group, Geni Curators and Geni Employees can see your full profile.
You can block specific relatives from viewing your full profile or messaging you.
You can further restrict what information appears on your profile in your account settings.
SEARCH PRIVACY
By default, the names of users are publicly searchable, but you can opt out in your account settings. (Your search result includes only your name and, optionally, your profile photo.)
Living relatives are hidden from public search.
Minors under 13 are never searchable by anyone outside your tree.
EMAIL PRIVACY
We will not provide any user's personal information to advertisers or third parties. This includes your email address and the email addresses of those you invite.
We will not spam you or your relatives. Detailed notification settings allow you to control which emails you receive from us.
DNA PRIVACY
DNA results uploaded to Geni or transferred from partner sites are never displayed in full on Geni -- only derived matches, haplogroups and a non-specific description of conflicting data is shown.
We will not share your DNA results with third parties without your informed consent. When uploading raw autosomal DNA to Geni, you are given the option to allow your autosomal DNA to be used anonymously to further scientific research. This selection will not affect how your DNA results are displayed on Geni
You may choose at any time to have your DNA results removed completely from Geni, as detailed in the DNA FAQ.
GENI CURATORS
Geni Curators are volunteer Geni users granted special privileges by Geni to help maintain and improve the quality and accuracy of the Geni World Family Tree. Geni Curators are specially selected based on their integrity and the quality of their work on Geni. Candidate Curators undergo a nomination and voting process. Accepted Geni Curators are formally appointed and, like Geni Employees, they sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the company to ensure they protect data confidentiality. Geni Curators have the ability, at a user’s request, to assist the user in merging and correcting errors in their tree, including the user’s own profile and those of close relatives.
GENI EMPLOYEES
Geni Employees have full access to all data on Geni. They use this access if requested by users in order to provide customer support, check abuse complaints, resolve problems and generally assist users in their usage of Geni.
How do I remove myself?
Read our full privacy policy.
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GENI.COM PRIVACY POLICY
Geni.com ("Geni," "we" or "us") has implemented this Privacy Policy to provide our registered users ("Members") and unregistered users and visitors (collectively "Users" or "you") information regarding the collection and use of your information on the Website, so that you can make an informed decision about your use of the Website.
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Personal Information: We'll ask you to provide certain information if you choose to register with Geni, including your name, email address and your date of birth, address, and other information (collectively "Personally Identifiable Information"). Geni also asks you for email addresses for you and your relatives in the course of building your family tree. Do not supply to us or disclose on the Website any Personally Identifiable Information (except for a name to be used only as a placeholder) of any person under 13 years of age, as we do not intend to collect information from anyone under 13 or invite to them to participate in the Website. Please check our parental safety page for information regarding the protection of children.
You may also provide Personally Identifiable Information to include in your profile or your family member's profiles to tell others about yourself or those in your family tree, or when taking advantage of promotions, responding to surveys, or subscribing to newsletters or other lists.
Anonymous Information: Geni uses cookies to collect information for record keeping purposes and make it easier to navigate the Website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on users' hard drives. We will not use cookies to collect personal information without getting your permission. Geni uses both "session ID cookies" and "persistent cookies." Session ID cookies are used to store information while a user is logged into the site and expire when the user closes their browser. Persistent cookies are used to make tasks like logging into the site easier for returning users by remembering a user's login information. Persistent cookies stay on a user's hard drive from one session to the next. You may choose not to receive cookies from Geni by following instructions in your web browser's "help" file, but this may make certain features of the Geni Services inaccessible to you.
DNA Information: Geni allows users to upload DNA test results for themselves or relatives for whom they have legal permission to do so, both with the Family Tree DNA Connector application as well as uploading raw autosomal DNA files. Geni will use these DNA test results to match against other DNA users, confirm or refute connections in your tree, and display genealogically-relevant information about the origins of your DNA. The DNA markers and mutations will NOT be displayed to Geni users, even yourself. Some DNA markers can and will be propagated through your family tree, including to public profiles that may be viewable by other Geni users as well as visitors not logged onto the Geni web site. You may choose to hide your name and profile link from persons outside your Family Group on propagated DNA information on the Privacy Settings page (listed as "Name on Propagated DNA". Additionally, when uploading raw autosomal DNA data you are given the option to participate anonymously in DNA research to further scientific studies. If and only if you agree to participate, your autosomal DNA may be shared with third parties without any personally-identifiable information included.
Geni also collects Users' IP addresses and basic log file information (such as address, browser type and language, number of clicks, domain names of web sites visited, pages viewed, the amount of time spent on particular pages, and the date and time) to help locate potential problems with our server, and to aggregate general user statistics including demographic and geographical information. We use this information to analyze general usage patterns, and to provide advertisements and other services appropriate to the user's location. Geni may aggregate user information in a non-personally identifiable manner to share with advertisers and to enhance the Website with new features.
Information Collected by Third Parties Third-party ad servers or ad networks may serve advertisements on the Website. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser, the advertisements and links that appear on Geni. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content.
Geni does not provide any personally identifiable information to these third-party ad servers or ad networks without your consent. However, please note that if an advertiser asks Geni to show an advertisement to a certain audience or audience segment and you respond to that advertisement, the advertiser or ad-server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach.
You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers or ad networks. The Geni.com Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such advertisers. Some of the third-party advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies (www.networkadvertising.org).
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Personal Information: If you submit registration or Profile Information to us through the Website, then we use this information to operate, maintain, and provide the features and functionality of the Website. Members in your family tree will have access to the Profile Information you post (including any Personally Identifiable Information). Note that those Members could forward this information to other Users or non-users. You can set the privacy settings on your account to control access to the information in your profile by other Users or Members.
Geni will use your email address to complete the signup process, and will use your relatives' email addresses to invite them to join your tree. By providing Geni your email address you consent to our using the email address to send you Service-related notices, including among other things notices required by law, in lieu of postal mail. You may not opt out of Service-related e-mails. We may also use your email address to send you other messages, including changes to Geni features and special offers. If you do not want to receive such email messages, you may opt out by changing your account settings or by sending mail to the following postal address: Customer Support
Geni.com
P.O. Box 4015
Burbank, CA 91503 USA
Opting out may prevent you from receiving email messages regarding updates, improvements, or special offers.
Anonymous Information. We use non-Personally Identifiable Information, such as anonymous Website use data and IP addresses, to improve the quality and design of the Website and to create new features and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing your preferences and trends. We may use such information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your current or subsequent visits to the Website; (b) provide customized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors and traffic; (d) diagnose or fix technology problems; (e) access your information after you sign in; (f) market our Website to advertisers and other third parties; (g) aggregate general User and Member statistics including demographic and geographic information; and (h) other purposes for which your personal identity is not revealed.
Posted Information. Any information or Content that you voluntarily disclose for posting to public areas of the Website (for instance, in the forum or wiki) becomes available to the public.
WHEN WE SHARE INFORMATION
Geni will not share your email address with advertisers or unaffiliated third parties without first obtaining your express permission.
We may provide information, including personal information, to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies, or subcontractors, so such parties can, among other things (a) perform services and/or process such information on our behalf, (b) use the information to offer greater functionality and enhanced services through the Website, and provide you with additional product and service opportunities, and (c) communicate these opportunities to you. When we do this, the recipients of your information are bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy.
We share non-Personally Identifiable Information (such as anonymous Website use data) with third-parties to assist them in understanding our Website, including Users' use of our Website and the services we provide and the success of advertisements and promotions.
We may release your information if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state or federal laws or respond to a court order, subpoena, law enforcement or regulatory request, or search warrant. We reserve the right to collect and share any information: in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities; as appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms of Use or investigate potential or actual violations of the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy; take precautions against liability; to protect the security or integrity of our Website; to exercise or protect the rights, property, or the rights and personal safety of Geni.com affiliates, Users or others; or for other legitimate purposes.
We may assign or transfer the information we collect to a third party in the event that Geni is acquired by or merged with a third party entity or of our bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or similar situation.
OUR COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important and is mandated by U.S. law. For these reasons, Geni.com does not knowingly collect Personally Identifiable Information on the Website from persons under 13 years of age, and no part of our Website is directed to persons under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then you must not use or access the Website at any time or in any manner or provide any information to the Website.
INTERNATIONAL USERS
The Website is hosted in the United States and is intended for and directed to Users in the United States. The Website and services are void where prohibited. If you are accessing the Website from outside the United States, your use of the Website is governed by U.S. law, you are transferring your personal information to the United States, and you consent to that transfer.
YOUR CHOICES
You may, of course, decline to submit Personally Identifiable Information to the Website, in which case you may not be able to register or Geni.com may not be able to provide certain services to you.
You may update or correct your personal Profile Information, including Personally Identifiable Information, by using your account settings to edit, delete or change the information in your Profile Information. You may also adjust your account settings to determine who has direct access to your Profile Information through the Website. You may request that Geni.com remove other information from the current Website by contacting us at misconduct@geni.com with the understanding that Geni.com may maintain an archive of the information you submit not on the Website.
To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a password) to verify your identity before granting you profile access or making corrections. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your password and account information at all times.
OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY
We have implemented commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures or use your personal information for improper purposes. You acknowledge that you provide your personal information at your own risk.
COMPROMISE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
In the event that personal information is compromised as a result of a breach of security, Geni will promptly notify those persons whose personal information has been compromised, in accordance with the notification procedures set forth in this Privacy Policy, or as otherwise required by applicable law.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES
It is Geni's policy to provide notifications, whether such notifications are required by law or are for marketing or other business related purposes, to Users via email notice, written or hard copy notice, or through conspicuous posting of such notice on our Website page, as determined by Geni in its sole discretion. Geni reserves the right to determine the form and means of providing notifications to our Users, provided that you may opt out of certain means of notification as described in this Privacy Policy.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy may be revised periodically and this will be reflected in the "effective date" above. Your use of the Website indicates your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and any then-current revisions.
Safety tips for parents.
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