FWD: From Peter Wyant SUFFOLK List Admin.
Hello list ... I said I'd provide more info. on this site when things
had been clarified a bit.
First, Geoff Stone, the SoG (i.e., Society of Genealogists) List Admin.,
has provided the following information:
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"Title Research [the owner of the site] is a fairly long established
firm of repute, this is not a scam but a genuine project. The
particular company has been using the digitised images of BMD index data
for several years which it converted at its own expense. They have now
realised that the data in this form (after some convincing from others)
is potentially of commercial interest. Of course we all realise that as
the Free-BMD grows in size then that site will probably win out, but in
the short term who can blame Title Research for taking the opportunity
of sharing a valuable asset in the mean time.
"The Family Record Centre ['FRC'] Consultative Group has a dozen or so
members who represent users of the FRC, plus of course FRC, GRO
['General Register Office'] and PRO ['Public Record Office']
representatives. The group discusses operational issues from a user
point of view. There are representatives from three commercial
companies, the SoG, GOONS ['Guild of One-Name Studies'], FFHS
['Federation of Family History Societies'], IHGS ['Institute of Heraldic
and Genealogical Studies'], AGRA ['Association of Genealogists and
Record Agents'] and independent researchers forming the user group. Of
course in fact the commercial companies are the largest single users of
the centre and facilities, hence the fact that it was worth while one of
them digitising the indexes.
"I expect that the counter or phone staff at Stockport [i.e., at the
GRO] do not know about the new site since it has not yet been launched.
However, the PRO management are well aware of the site. I can't
comment at the moment regarding records less than 100 years old, but I
will update this list when I am in a position to do so.
"Somebody else has pointed out that you are not obliged to use the site,
but there will be many who are not able to go to the FRC and don't have
easy access to the microfilm and will welcome the facilities offered.
This rather depends on the options offered by the system which we will
not know for another few weeks.
"I should also add - for the avoidance of doubt <grin> - that the SoG
have [sic] no direct connection with the site, though we are supportive
in principle of anybody who makes genealogical data available over the
Internet."
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Second, one of our list members, Keith Flinders, has kindly provided the
following information ferreted out by Roy Stockdill:
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"Having made certain enquiries within the genealogical world, I now
understand that the company behind this project is called TITLE SEARCH
and, as I suspected, they are professional researchers at the Family
Records Centre in Islington. To be precise, they are specialists in
probate research, i.e., tracing beneficiaries of wills.
"They have all the microfiche of the GRO Indexes from 1837 to the
present day and are scanning the images which they propose to place
online from those, rather than from the large book volumes at the FRC.
They apparently have the blessing of the General Register Office to do
this. The head of the company is Colin Miller, who is on the FRC
advisory committee.
"It would appear to be a genuine project - though why they have chosen
to be so secretive about it and launch it in such a low-key fashion is
still a bit of a mystery to me. However, I am told the site will shortly
be in beta-test mode."
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Third, Keith has also kindly provided the following information from
John Wynn:
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"What has already changed, effective from 13 May 2002, is a general
relaxation of the rules applicable to GRO Index holders (of which I am
one). These new rules were contained in a letter sent to all Index
holders on 8 Apr 2002.
"To help clarify the new responsibilities of Index holders the GRO
produced a few Questions & Answers in the Annex to the letter - the
two most relevant to this discussion being:
'Q. May a charge be made for providing access to, or making index
information available?
'A. The revised conditions of sale remove the prohibition in respect
to index information of over 100 years old. In future, therefore,
should a fiche holder wish to set a charge, for example for accessing
an internet site, this would be permissible.
'Q. May a fiche holder charge for information from the recent
indexes?
'A. The conditions of sale have not changed in respect to index
information of less than 100 years old. Strictly speaking, no
charges can be levied. However, ONS ['Office of National Statistics']
has no objection to a nominal fee being collected to cover the cost of a
locally provided service such as photocopying etc.'
"Obviously this allows any Index holder to publish 1901 or earlier
index information or images and to charge a fee. For the later
indexes the company appear [sic] to take the view that they [sic] are
collecting a nominal fee (10p) to cover the cost of making an image and
print available for each page in the indexes. Whether ONS agree with
this view remains to be seen I guess."
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In summary then, the site appears to be legitimate and to provide
information in accordance with GRO and (generally) ONS regs, but is
likely still in beta mode, and for the nonce (when launched in Dec) will
provide a more complete database than that available on the FreeBMD
site, but at a price.
Trust this information is helpful. No more discussion, please ... this
is now approaching the promotion of a commercial enterprise, something
not in accordance with Rootsweb's Acceptable Use Policy, although
people's experiences with using the site (in Dec) are encouraged!
Regards,
Peter Wyant
SUFFOLK List Admin.