Privacy and disclaimers

Effective 27 September 2026

This page explains what Watkins Genetic Studies (Genetics) collects, who can see it, and the limits of what the site is for. It works together with the terms of use.

What we collect

• Account details: your name, email address and password (stored hashed), or your profile from the Watkins network sign-in if you use it.
• Tree content: the people, families, events, notes and sources you add or import, and the history of your imports.
• Technical data: a session cookie that keeps you signed in, and standard server logs (such as IP address, browser and pages requested) used for security and troubleshooting.

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not sell or rent personal information.

How we use it

Only to run the site: to sign you in, store and display your trees according to your settings, import data you ask us to import, keep the site secure, and contact you about your account or significant changes.

Who can see your trees

• Private trees are visible only to their members.
• Anyone with the link trees are visible to people who have the secret share link.
• Public trees are listed on the site and visible to everyone.
• In every case, living people (no death record and born within the last 110 years, or with no known birth year) are shown only to members of the tree. Everyone else sees “Living” and a surname.
• Site administrators can access all trees to run, secure and moderate the site.

Other services

When you import from another site, such as WikiTree, or use a GEDCOM link, our server fetches that data on your behalf. When you use the Watkins network sign-in, watkins.org shares your name and email with this site. Those services have their own privacy policies. The site is hosted with a commercial hosting provider that stores the data on our behalf.

Health and genetic information (HIPAA and GINA)

• The site is a family-history service. It is not a health care provider, health plan or health care clearinghouse, and it is not a business associate of one. It is therefore not a “covered entity” under the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and HIPAA’s protections do not apply to information you choose to put on the site.
• Do not upload medical records, diagnoses, health histories, genetic test results or raw DNA files, for yourself or anyone else. The site is not designed to protect that kind of information.
• The site does not collect or process DNA samples. Any DNA-related terms or notes on the site are information that members typed in.
• We do not use any information on the site for employment, insurance or underwriting decisions, and we do not provide it to anyone for those purposes. (In the US, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, GINA, limits how employers and health insurers can use genetic information.)
• Nothing on the site is medical or genetic advice. Speak to a doctor or genetic counsellor about health questions.

Accuracy disclaimer

Genealogical information comes from records, family knowledge and other researchers, and can be incomplete or wrong. Relationships and facts shown on the site, including anything our tools infer or visualise, are for personal and research interest only and are not evidence of identity, parentage, inheritance, citizenship or any legal right. Always check original records.

Keeping and deleting data

• You can edit or delete people and trees at any time, and export your trees as GEDCOM.
• When you delete a tree or your account, we remove it from the live site. Copies can remain in backups for up to 90 days before they are overwritten.
• We may keep limited records where the law requires it or to deal with abuse.

Your choices and rights

You can ask to see, correct, export or delete personal information we hold about you, including information about you that someone else added to a tree. Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the UK and EU, or state privacy laws in the US), you may have further rights; we will honour valid requests. Email doug@watkins.org and we will reply within 30 days.

Children

The site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly create accounts for them. Family trees may include details of children; those details are hidden as “living” from anyone who is not a member of the tree.

Security

We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, encrypted storage for connector credentials, and access controls on every tree. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your information, we will tell you as the law requires.

Changes and contact

We will post changes to this page and note significant ones on the site. Questions or requests: doug@watkins.org.