[Genealib] Ancestrybank clarification

[Sharon Centanne]

Why not just share all our documents for free rather than letting someone
make a fast buck off of them???



ancestrybank at ancestrybank.com wrote:

> Dear list,
>
> I wanted to respond to comments made in a couple of posts and provide
> some clarification about Ancestrybank.com.  Ancestrybank.com is going
> after documents held in private hands - individuals.  It is not trying
> to obtain documents that are readily available to the public or public
> domain (aka libraries/clerk offices).  This is why we ask historical
> societies and others if they know of members that have documents to
> please inform them of this service.
>
> If you personally own pre-1885 documents, you can archive your
> document images and earn from them.  The concept of the exclusive
> right to sell the document image is for the benefit of the document
> owner, the company, and visitors, so that what is being offered is not
> duplicated elsewhere as so many resources on the web are,
> deteriorating the value of the site as a resource that will offer
> something new to visitors (for example, there are a lot of places to
> find the same census document).  The person archiving their document
> image owns that image.  If they choose to make their image available
> elsewhere, that is perfectly fine, we would just remove it from the
> Ancestrybank database so that a person purchasing a document knows
> that the document image is new to them and can?t be found elsewhere ?
> which makes the site?s database more marketable and more beneficial to
> those archiving their personal collection.  To stress, a person has
> full control over their document images.
>
> The site has nothing to do with trying to gain control of public
> domain historical documents.  The buyer of a document image is
> forbidden to distribute the image because the copyright belongs to the
> owner of the document image.  If people start distributing document
> images on their websites, it takes away from the effort that the
> document owner has put in to digitize and archive the document.
> Ancestrybank is simply a site that is trying to encourage people to
> make documents available to the public that they own by providing an
> incentive to archive and preserve them.  The site allows people to
> earn from their documents rather than taking someone else?s
> information submitted and repackaging it for sale without providing
> any benefit to the information owner.  Our goal is for the site to be
> recognized as a creative and hopefully innovative way to get access to
> genealogical information that might otherwise stay hidden in someone?s
> collection forever!
>
> Thank you for taking the time to read,
>
> Ryan McLemore
> Ancestrybank.com
>
> P.S. Please feel free to write anytime for greater clarification or
> just to talk about genealogy!  Genealogy is a great community and we
> are proud to be a part of that community.
>
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