Code of Ethics

The Queensland Family History Society encourages all members and researchers to adhere to the  principles of its Code of Ethics.

Responsible family historians respect the law and the feelings of others and will always:

• Seek, by all reasonable means, to inform themselves about the legal principles in force from time to time governing the protection of copyright and of personal privacy.
• Observe the legal rights of copyright owners. Only copy and/or distribute the work of others with their permission, or to the extent allowed under the copyright law’s fair use provisions.
• Be sensitive to the fact that revealing criminal, immoral, bizarre or irresponsible behaviour may bring hurt to family members.
• Obtain specific consent from living people that they agree to further sharing of information about themselves.
• Inform people who provide information about their families of the ways it may be used. Carefully record and observe any conditions the information providers may impose about the use of the information.
• Recognise that legal rights of privacy may limit the extent to which information from publicly available sources may be further used, disseminated, or published.