GDPR - Why Should I Care?

During the last month - and especially the last week - there has been a lot of discussion in the online genealogy community about the European Union's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). I didn't pay much attention at first. After all, it is a European Union regulation and I live in Kansas. As the discussion became more frequent, I began paying attention.


So, should I care?

One blogger made the comment that as a citizen of the United States, he didn't see how we could be subject to any fines imposed by the European Union in regards to GDPR.

I don't earn money from my blogs. Nor, do I have 'subscribers' to my blogs. Thus, it would be easy to take the attitude that the GDPR doesn't apply, especially for those of us living in small town America.

As I read more and more about the issue for bloggers, I realized that I should pay attention and try to be compliant.

So, Why Care?

Even though I live in Kansas, I have done research for people from Europe - particularly as a volunteer for the Nemaha County Historical Society.  I often included a link to a Nemaha County page on my personal website with their research report. Thus, it would be fairly safe to conclude that both the historical society's website and my personal website are visited by people from Europe.

With the potential for a citizen of the European Union to visit my website or one of my blogs and with the potential heavy fines,

I have elected to care.

GDPR Part 2

I'm working my way thru GDPR and my various blogs and websites. In the process, I'm having to learn more about how these free sites (Wordpress.com and Google) work.

One of the first things I did today was to search my email for GDPR and search again for action required. This was so that I could opt in to the various email lists to which I subscribe. At this point, I don't think I've received emails from all of my lists. Thus, I will be repeating this step in the days to come.

The second task on my "GDPR TO DO" list was to create a page for my privacy policy on my blogspot.com blogs (Heartland Genealogy: Developing Skills and Nemaha Tales) and then to actually write a policy. For the most part, I copied my privacy policy from my Wordpress blog and modified it for the Google aspects of a blogspot.com blog versus a Wordpress.com blog. I ran into a 'stumbling block' in that my new page wasn't showing on my blog -- even though I had published it. To get the page to be viewable, I had to modify my layout. I elected to add a 'Pages' widget below the header. Thru the widget, I was able to put a check mark by the Privacy page to create a link to it on the blog.

My next task was to continue working on my Google site, Heartland Genealogy. Previously, I had played around with converting my classic site to a 'new' Google site. However, I hadn't actually published the new site. I elected to go ahead and convert my site to the new site in hopes that the 'new' Google sites will incorporate whatever tools Google provides for GDPR. I also felt like the new site was more mobile friendly than the 'classic' site. However, I miss the ability to 'manage' the site!

I copied the text for my privacy page from my blog and pasted it into a new privacy page. I had to edit the cookie info since the site notice is currently missing.

I want to thank The Legal Genealogist for all of her posts on GDPR. Her blogpost, "The GDPR, You and Me" has been most helpful in getting thru these tasks!

Challenge of GDPR

I'm a 'sometimes' blogger -- with several blogs and websites from Kansas. Being a 'sometimes' blogger means that I blog or add to a website when I have something I want to share. Even though I try to follow laws and regulations affecting the Internet, I tend to focus on Kansas issues. Thus, I was vaguely aware of privacy regulations in Europe but I didn't really pay attention to them. Let's face it, I didn't think they applied to me -- until about 2 weeks ago when discussion of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) began appearing in Facebook genealogy groups.

Since that time, I've been trying to figure out what I have to do to be compliant! Even though I can usually find the information I want thru Google, figuring out how to be GDPR compliant hasn't been easy. Instead of trying to find information thru Google, I resorted to the forum for Wordpress and the Site Help menu for my Google Site. I'm still working on this blog which is hosted on Blogger.com. According to info on the settings, a Cookie notice should appear automatically -- but it doesn't.

So what have I accomplished? Cookie banners! Yes, I now have a 'Cookie' notice on my Wordpress blog, Heartland Genealogy and on my Heartland Genealogy Google Site.

Buried somewhere in the Wordpress.com forum's post about GDPR was info about the widget, EU Cookie Law. Once I found out about this widget, it was easily installed (Appearance --> Widgets) and it works!

Getting a notice on my Google site was almost as easy. In Sites Help, I found a response to someone else's question that suggested using the 'site notice' feature to add a Cookie Notice.

Armed with that suggestion and suggested text for the notice, I was able to get a Cookie notice added to my Heartland Genealogy Google site.

 

According to my admin page for this blogger blog, there should be a notice when others access this blog.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to verify that it works. After following the 'Learn More' link, I found that in order to view the cookie notice, I have to access my blog as if it were in a European country.

Once I changed the URL to end in .fr instead of .com, the Cookie Notice appeared! Thanks Blogger!

I've worked on a 'privacy' page for my Heartland Genealogy blog. Even though I've published it, I realize it needs improved! I still need to post a privacy page on my other blogs and on my Google Site.

I may also have to convert my google site to the newer version in order to be compliant with the GDPR.

My next step is to figure out what to do about comments. At this time, I don't have an answer. However, based on what I've read on these support sites, I believe all three companies will be providing the tools necessary for my blogs and website to be compliant with GDPR.

I would love to hear from other bloggers and web site owners about how they are working thru these issues!

PFC Lovell Mentzer

While searching the Yates Center News for an article stating that Cleo B. Peake was awarded the purple heart, I discovered another cousin killed during World War II: PFC Lovell Mentzer.

Notice of the death of Private First Class Lovell J. Mentzer first appeared in the May 3, 1945 issue of the Yates Center News on Page 1.

PFC Lovell Mentzer

Killed in Germany
Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Mentzer received the information Tuesday from the War Department that their son, Private First Class Lovell J. Mentzer had died in Germany.
Nineteen-year-old Lovell had seen ten and one-half months service in the European theatre. Graduating from Yates Center high school with the class of '44 he was inducted in the army and trained for an infantryman. In the latter part of last November he was sent over seas and was with the Seventh Army
Private Mentzer has five brothers in the service, Technician Fourth Grade Keith in south Pacific, Corporal Talmadge (Tye) in England, T/5 Burdette with the AAF at Coffeyville, T/5 Edward at the home on furlough, Lt. Austin (j.G.), Corpus Christi, Tex

On June 14, 1945, the Yates Center News had a notice of the memorial service on page 1.

Cleo Byron Peake - Lost at Sea

While going thru Ancestry Hints for my Wells line, I found an intriguing military record for a distant cousin, Byron Peake (Cleo Byron Peake). The records said he was reported missing in action on 28 April 1944. ("World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas." Database. Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com : 2018.)

DNA Puzzle - Crawford Line

When I spit in a test tube for my first DNA test, I had high hopes of proving a relationship to another Crawford line and ultimately breaking through our brick wall in early Kentucky. Those hopes were greatly diminished when I wasn't a match to a known descendant of the James and Martha (Knight) Crawford line.

However, I had matches to descendants of William N. Crawford of Washington and Isaac and Nancy (Miller) Crawford of Kentucky. Those matches have revived hopes of figuring out how my Crawford line fits into the greater Crawford genealogy.

Since I have those matches 'painted' on DNA painter, I decided to experiment to see how they overlapped with DNA from my 2nd cousins.