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Consider Law, Ethics With Recordings

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By SHARON TATE MOODY Tribune Correspondent

Published: September 30, 2007

A key element of being a genealogist and collecting family history is interviewing living relatives, family acquaintances and others.

But who 'owns' the words said in those conversations? It may seem like a silly question, but genealogists need to know the answer.

The speaker owns his or her words, even if they were said in an interview with you.

The following story shows the possible pitfalls in collecting oral history.

A Loss Of Trust

Many people become uncomfortable when a microphone is placed on the table. They may have been lively and spontaneous when telling family stories but suddenly grow quiet and forgetful when a microphone is used.

I have a cousin who once was so desperate to record her father's colorful tales that she slipped a recorder under his chair when he wasn't looking. Other relatives, sympathetic to him, tipped him off and thwarted her efforts.

While it's easy to understand her motive, there really is no way to defend it. In some states, including Florida, it is a crime to record any conversation without the knowledge of all parties involved.

Laws about recording conversations vary across the nation. There are states that make it criminal only when none of the parties know and a warrant hasn't been obtained.

Luckily for my cousin, she attempted her clandestine recording where it is OK when one party is aware the conversation is being taped. We didn't have to imagine her being hauled away by the police.

'Oh, for goodness sakes,' you may say. 'This is just family talking - who wants to make a criminal matter of it?'

Probably no one. But the issue does matter - legally and ethically.

My cousin damaged the trust family members had in her. After the incident, no one wanted to sit and share stories with her. I chuckle remembering that everyone began looking under chairs before they talked about anything. It isn't a laughing matter, though, when passionate obsessions about gathering family history cause family rifts.

A better approach is to learn why family members may be sensitive about talking into a recorder. They could be hesitant because of concerns that anyone could listen to the recordings. You might ease their reservations by explaining that a recorder simply keeps you from having to take notes and you won't be sharing the tapes with anyone.

But unless you truly want the recording just for your own note-taking convenience, don't make such a promise. You also need to be aware of how your feelings might change about sharing when you realize you have the best memorial interview ever. You can always ask your subject's permission to release you from your promise, but you are ethically bound to keep your word if he or she says no.

There can be other complications. Say your family was prominent, or one member played a key part in local history. The local historical society or library agrees to house your collection of family papers and the interviews you conducted with the stipulation that it be available for public research.

Copyright Complications

Even if a person gave you permission to record the conversation, you can't publish the recording or a transcript without getting a second OK. To do so is a violation of copyright laws, which are civil rather than criminal.

Copyright laws are complicated, but the bottom line is that words a person speaks - recorded or written - can't be made public without the speaker's permission until 70 years after his or her death.

Another twist is that ownership of what was said passes to the speaker's heirs after death. You can get permission from the heirs to make the interview public, but you'll need it from each of them, no matter how many heirs there are.

To avoid all of this, a simple release can save you future trouble. You can present a form to anyone you interview. The form can contain these words: 'I hereby give and grant to enter your name my recorded memoir as a donation for such scholarly and educational purposes as enter your name shall determine. It is expressly understood that the full literary rights of this memoir shall pass to enter your name and that no rights whatsoever are to vest in my heirs now or at my death.'

Present the form before the interview starts. Both you and your subject should sign and date it.

But there are two instances when you don't need to worry. You don't need permission to use any facts gleaned from the interviews, such as the date when an event occurred. You also don't need permission to paraphrase what was said and weave it into a written family story, citing your relative as the source of the information.

Family Tree Maker

In my review of the new 'Family Tree Maker 2008' software two weeks ago, one of my criticisms was that the producers had eliminated the Register System Genealogy Reports. Apparently others have registered this same concern.

Credit goes to Ancestry.com, developers of the software, for listening to users. It announced last week that in mid-October it will reintroduce that report. If you have registered your software, you will be notified when the program update becomes available.

Sharon Tate Moody is president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Send your genealogy questions and event announcements to her in care of BayLife, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606 or wmoody3@tampabay.rr.com. She regrets t

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