From personal knowledge, I am sure that authors
of genealogical books do not have to follow the 70
year rule. My husband's family was researched a few
decades ago by a distant cousin. This cousin interviewed
all the relatives that he could find, and put the interviews
in a book. One of those interviewed was my husband's
great grandfather, Judge E.E.Porterfield . He outlined what
he knew of his family, and included that the light of his life
was his new and only grandchild. Now, that grandchild got a
little brother a couple of years later (and that little brother is
now my father-in-law). It is always a source of good-natured
ribbing that one made it into the book and the other didn't,
and neither has yet reached the age of seventy. In effect, their
grandfather gave his permission for publishing info on the living,
and he was a Judge and would have know what was legal :-)
Great topic!
Pam