FMP e-mail - new terms and conditions and privacy policy

[Elizabeth Herts]

There is going to be a “Fair Usage Policy” for Users with a Subscription with a cap at an average of no more than 1000 Credits per month over a rolling three month period.

There is also a new privacy policy.

Also, the Find My Past name is being dropped - it will become "brightsolid online publishing limited"

I haven't quite worked out how I know how many credits I have used under my subscription - I'll have to keep an eye on it. I think they are trying to prevent look-ups for other people.

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

I think your right, it looks like they are trying to prevent too many folks doing look ups for non members, Ancestry always say that personal and professional research is allowed via their site as long as a member does not download an entire or large portion of a particular database.

[Elaine ..Spain]

I am sure they have always had a Fair Usage Policy. I have certainly been aware of it but as I use Ancestry more than FMP it has never really worried me. Should I decide to give up Ancestry and just use FMP then I would like to know if there is a way of seeing how many credits you have used if you are on a subscription package.

1000 credits per month = 33 credits per day
33 credits per day = 33 BMD entries OR 11 census images OR 1 passenger list image

Someone who is actively searching their family doing a lot of lookups on the census or passenger lists would need to be very careful they don't exceed their limit.

[Vivienne]

I think I will send a reply to my email. I was thinking of changing from Ancestry when my sub runs out but with this latest news I think I'll stay where I am.
I don't understand this obsession with name changing that these big corporations have, I think maybe they are just a tax loss. There was nothing wrong with the original name of 1837 they could just have added a +, would have saved a whole lot of money & they could have kept the subs to a more affordable level.
1837 started off as a site to help genealogists & is now turning into just another big business who care nothing about their subscribers.

[Margaret in Burton]

I don't use Find my Past much at all at the moment but am considering a sub when the 1911 is included in it.

1000 credits is only 33 census images for the 1911 per month at the present cost. I was hoping to do loads. Will just have to pace myself and keep a careful note of how many I use.

I do think it's to stop people doing look ups on the 1911 when it is included in the sub.

[Chris in Sussex]

But there was one bit of 'possibly' good news for those who prefer to pay by instalments.........

"We have included the possibility of ‘recurring billing’ in the future where we take regular fixed payments rather than one large payment in advance."

[maggie_4_7]

I think if you read their T & C's it prohibits any 'obvious' lookups and if you do them and and report them publicly i.e. on a web site then you are breaking their T's & C's.

[Elaine ..Spain]

I think if you read their T & C's it prohibits any 'obvious' lookups and if you do them and and report them publicly i.e. on a web site then you are breaking their T's & C's.

This has always been the case which is why we warn anyone on here who quotes explicit detail from a Findmypast lookup that they are breaking the Ts and Cs of their subscription.

[maggie_4_7]

This has always been the case which is why we warn anyone on here who quotes explicit detail from a Findmypast lookup that they are breaking the Ts and Cs of their subscription.

Yes I know.

But recently I have seen people asking for lookups at FMP and people quite blatantly doing them yourself included. I don't think it matters how explicit you are about the detail in the next posts. The original post is the one that counts any information after that would be I assume from FMP unless otherwise stated.

I don't have a problem with it but like I said in my post it's against the T's and C's which was pointed out to me when I did it a few months ago by Pippa.

The rules need to be transparent and apply to all.

I expect most 'sites' have people that trawl very popular family history websites for this very thing now.

I know my company employs people to specifically search for any company undermining or phishing and pharming our clients on the internet.

I was just saying this because from the previous posts in this thread it seems that it was not generally known that the T's and C's already state that lookups are contravening them.

Or perhaps I misinterpreted some of the posts.

[iantester]

Hello all,

Ian @ findmypast.com here. Just to clarify a few points:

1. the name of the website (findmypast.com) will not change, just the name of the company operating it (we now run a number of family history websites so it makes sense to change the company name). The only place you will notice it is in the legal bits and bobs, and most people won't even notice it there.
2. the fair use policy has been in place for a number of years but is not designed to penalise bona fide family historians. It is simply a measure of last resort to catch people who are using the site for commercial purposes and should therefore be paying commercial rates (which helps us keep the price down for family historians). We always contact people to warn them of heavy use and find out the reasons for it before going any further.
3. we constantly review the limit for fair use, and when we introduce the 1911 census, naturally we will look carefully at it because of the higher credit price. As I said, it's in no way about penalising our customers, it simply there to catch those who are making *unfair* use of the services (and pushing the prices up for everybody).
4. I'll post something about this later today on the findmypast.com blog to clarify this for users - findmypast.com blog we have also listed the changes in detail already. Actually not much has changed, we have simply tried to make everything easier to understand, added some detail about rights to cancel, and put in summaries in plain english.

Hope that helps to explain things, enjoy the site.

UPDATE (14/09/09): Just to confirm that we will be reviewing the Fair Usage Limit as we launch the 1911 census subscription in October. It is set too low at 1000 credits, we will revise this upwards once we have established a benchmark for average usage after the 1911 Census is online.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Ian, thanks for the clarification.

[Janet]

Ian,

Thanks for this clarification. I have to say I am concerned, as I am a fairly heavy user for my own research only, I found myself just last night getting through 11 census, looking for one particular person with a fairly common name, and then realising wth a shock that I had used up my credits for the day.

Janet

[MarionH]

Ian,

May I suggest that perhaps the inclusion of the birthplace of the person on the initial search would stop us having to view the originals so often. Often there are so many possibilties - and with the chance of a transcription error, it is often quicker and easier to go straight through and view the original - well at least I do! The birthplace indication (even just the county) would be a great assistance and save using so many credits.
Marion

[Uncle John]

Anything to get away from GR "hot match" syndrome!