Uproar over Fake Family Trees Continues

As I first reported on this newsletter's web site on November 2, a new piece of software is now in use that creates thousands of web pages of bogus genealogy information. Now other news organizations are discovering this new problem, and the uproar is getting louder.

The person who created the software says his product can "create thousands of pages of unique . . . content with almost no effort. Neither humans nor search engines will be able to tell whether the content is 'real' or 'generated.' "

Of course, genealogists are protesting loudly. The makers of the Legacy Family Tree software threatened to sue the software creator if he did not remove from his web site instructions about how to download free software from them that could assist the Fake Family program.

Mary Kay Evans, spokeswoman for Ancestry.com, a Utah company that, as part of its service, offers a large database of names, said, "It is so unfortunate that there are predators on the Web who target people interested in their genealogy. Genealogy is such a popular hobby that predators are moving to take advantage of that."

Meanwhile, the creator of FakeFamilies responds by noting that databases by the LDS Church and Ancestry.com also contain some incorrect information submitted by patrons. According to Mr. Harrold, obviously false data creates less threat to genealogy research than errors in data these web sites provide.

You can read my original article at http://eogn.typepad.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2005/11/generating_fake.html

You can read a later article in the Deseret News at http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635160683,00.html

Comments

[fakefamily]

Well, Dick, since you ignore facts, continue to allow your blog to be used for the same, and ignore my emails to you regarding the FACTS, we've taken a new tack. Check our site for details.

[fakefamily]

Well, Dick, since you ignore facts, continue to allow your blog to be used for the same, and ignore my emails to you regarding the FACTS, we've taken a new tack. Check our site for details.

[D Lohr]

Wow! It seems FF has already been "worsted":

* * * * * * *

*Free Census Records Come at a Cost*

Ron Carroll got the idea from a recent post to the Eastman Newsletter.

"Our website will feature digitized images of every census schedule—just like the other guys. But ours will be ad-supported. At random intervals, we'll add fake census pages. The preliminary artwork is really amazing, top notch."

The phony pages will include fabricated names, ages, birthplaces, and occupations—entire families made out of whole cloth. Hidden within the handwritten text will be small advertisements.

LINK http://genealogue.blogspot.com/2005/11/free-census-records-come-at-cost.html

* * * * * * *

I like it. I think Ancestry & RootsWeb should do this with SSDI, e.g. a search for Don Harrold gives you pop-up for Tylenol & the new "Fantasy Island" collection on DVD.

It would seem that Mr. Harrold's software is a straw man ... and it's smoking a cigarette.

[Dick Eastman]

To Don Harrold: Thank you for posting that information.

To everyone with an interest in this topic: Mr. Harrold's latest posting on his web site illustrates his intentions, rationale and business ethics far better than I could ever describe. If you have concerns about FakeFamily software and what it could mean to genealogists, I strongly urge you to read the information that Don Harrold has posted on his web site at http://fakefamily.com , then decide for yourself.

- Dick Eastman

[fakefamily]

"Dick",

You are quite the comedian. You lie and allow your blog to fill with lies. You namecall and allow your blog to fill with namecalling. You completely disregard the FACT that we don't even sell our software and...

...here's what's even funnier...

You ask people to "decide for" themselves about *my* intentions? *MY* rationale? *MY* "business ethics"?

Too funny.

See, "Dick", it's easy to use your blog to lie and allow others to use your blog for the same. But, you have ZERO ethics. NONE.

Where's your blog on the garbage at Ancestry.Com? What about Family Tree Maker's WFT CDs? Real gems there, too. How about the myriad of issues that plague genealogy - REAL ISSUES - like identity theft, or search engines that profit from the disemmination of bogus data?

Any chance you'll be fanning the flames of those issues any time soon?

Oh well, back to NOT SELLING our software that you've NEVER EVEN USED.

LOL

[belinda]

Hi Dick

I don't think I have to visit FakeFamily's website to read Don Harrold's description of his product and it's uses. His postings on this site speak volumes about his ethics, personality and professionalism. I will never use or advocate his product.

[GenoBoy]

I posted to Mr. Harrold's blog that I couldn't understand why if they feel the software is no threat, they are back peddling now and claiming it wasn't available to the general public? I have a pdf of some of the original webpages (also available by using google with a search term of site:fakefamily.com ) and even was able to download a copy of the .exe file.

The cached pages show the software was available for $74.95 with a PayPal button that took you to the shopping cart of Red Belt One, LLC.

Also of note, was this little gem on the order page: "PS (Keep this thing under wraps. It will help NO ONE if you spread it around. This is YOUR SECRET. Keep it that way...)"

Sounds like someone's trying to rewrite the past. :(

[fakefamily]

Dear GenoBoy,

You people amaze me. Do you read? Do you even bother with the facts?

A) Fake Family has NEVER been available to the general public. Never was and never will be.

B) The PayPal link was for only invited people to use. Of which there were only a handful. Of them, only a few have ever used that link. As I have said OVER AND OVER: YOU can't buy Fake Family. NO ONE can buy Fake Family at the moment, but YOU or anyone in the general public could NEVER buy it.

C) No matter how or where you post it, I have not tried to "re write" the past. I have stated OVER AND OVER from the START that Fake Family was not for sale to the general public. That is stated on ANY page with ANY link to "buy" it. Your choice to ignore that fact is no reflection on us.

And, I *know* that Fake Family is not a threat to genealogy. And, I'm not "back peddling". There has never been a denial about selling the software to a TINY group of people. That's been clear from the START. What is NOT possible is A) Fake Family to be bought by ANYONE without an invitation from us OR B) for Fake Family to hurt true genealogists in ANY WAY. (On this point, my challenge continues to be ignored - see "Dick"'s first lie-filled blog.)

In summary, you people keep looking for some kind of "proof" of the nefarious nature of Fake Family and the "evil" people behind it. You'd be better off spending time on your family tree. And, you might want to read what we've posted at our site now.

For all of you that think Fake Family is so bad, you might want to reconsider posting more of your flames and lies.

[fakefamily]

Dear GenoBoy,

One more thing: If someone downloads Fake Family, all they get is an exe file. It must be LICENSED by us to use. If you know of a live link to an exe file, by the way, I'd like to know about it because there should be none. But, no matter, anyway. Like I said all copies must be LICENSED and we have control over that.

[Mark Roy]

fakefamily;

I understand and accept that your software will produce only fictional data.

Could you please state succinctly what the purpose of your software is? I mean, beyond creating the fictional data. What does a user of the software *do* with the fictional data that's produced and why?

You have stated that the software is not for sale to the general public, only people invited to do so. Who are the people that are invited to buy and why?

[GenoBoy]

Hi Don,

Can I ask you to clarify something? When you say the product was not available to the general public, you don't just mean it's not the general public because it was targeted toward articlebot customers, do you? I mean your page did tell people how to upgrade their articlebot to qualify, after all.

And although you don't claim to be back peddling, when you were initially selling this, or "offering it to a select few," you made a point on your website to say:

"Want to see some content created with Fake Family? Click Here. Or is it real? You can't tell, and that's the point."

If the point was that it couldn't be told from real data, isn't it a bit of a back peddle to now say it obviously could be told from real?

Oh, by the way, thank's for removing the exe download from www.fakefamily.com/ffamily.exe - it was still live as of yesterday. And another interesting thing, google has wiped the cache on your www.fakefamily.com/members page. Since I'm sure there's nothing there that would embarrass you, I assume you would have objections if I hosted a pdf download of the original page?

Cheers,

Genoboy

[GenoBoy]

That should be "I assume you would have NO objections to me posting the pdf." Slip of the fingers. :D

Genoboy

[fakefamily]

GenoBoy,

A) You don't read real good. I said (as has been stated OVER AND OVER) that we are not selling Fake Family. By the way, if we choose to it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

B) It's never been available to the general public. The pages in our "members section" were for "members" to see - of which there were never more than a FEW. And, if we decide to sell to EVERYONE it's, again, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. But, as has always been the case, the pages you refer to were not for the general public, and even if someone found them they COULD NOT BUY FAKE FAMILY ANYWAY.

Frankly, this is insane. I have nothing to justify to you regarding our software or whether or not we sell it or who we sell it to.

So, uh, "GenoBoy", WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

If your point is to somehow show that we are "bad" then you've got an audience here that will cheer wildly. So, is that all? Do you have some other point to make? If so, what is it, 'cause, this is real boring and there's no point to it.

[GenoBoy]

Don,

If there is no point to my comments then feel free to ignore them. Nor am preaching to the choir here hoping for wild applause and recognition.

But here are a few points for you to chew on:

You say it's NONE OF MY BUSINESS. I think you're wrong on two points. The first is that your own company is soliciting the opinion of the community, and frankly by taking part in any online forum, such as this one, you are de facto inviting comment and participation in a discussion around your product. Second, you product impacts me in several ways, including as a genealogist. I certainly have no control over what you do with your business, but I assure I have every legal and moral right to state my opinion and engage you in debate. You have the right to engage me or ignore me, but not, in this matter, to shut me up. If, by chance, you feel my comment are restraint of trade or worthy of an injunction, I invite you to convince a judge, only I would really really really like to be there to watch the proceedings. :D

And yes, I can read. I've read your original web pages and if you tell me that only a select few were the target of it, that's fine. There doesn't appear to be anything on the page limiting participation in any way, but only you can truly know your intentions. I can tell you that from the perspective of some of the rest of us, it certainly didn't appear limited and that may explain the reaction you've received from so many people.

By the way, for what it’s worth, the defense that you only sold 10 copies, each capable of deliberately manufacturing tens of thousand of false genealogical bits of data (1000 people in five minutes, I believe your claim was), isn't much of a defense in my opinion. And yes, there are pages of poor quality data out there, but that doesn’t give anyone a moral or ethical pass on deliberately pumping the net full of more bad data in the quest to generate ad revenue.

Don, you are right in that you've done nothing illegal, but I doubt you've made many friends. You certainly stood up for yourself, though in my opinion, there's been a bit of revisionism to your tale, but then I'm only working from my own perceptions. Frankly, as unpleasant as the original product was to me, I didn’t get involved in this debate until you started calling other people liars on your web page, which struck me as strange since their reports matched my own recollection pretty well.

Again you may feel there is no point to these discussions, nor that you need to justify your actions, but, as in all things, be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions and not spend all your time complaining about how misunderstood you are. As I’ve said on your own blog, Don, a good thing to remember, is that, in life, there are no punishments or rewards, only consequences.

Cheers,

Genoboy

[cassandra]

Well I wonder why I am not surprised at this sort of con-job being popular, I have been a member of a genealogy chat room with most of the members whose idea of doing your family tree is to collect as many details as possible, regarding a surname or group of surnames whether they are related to them at all and adding them to their lists and making a GEDCOM of them.

There is no documentation whatsoever done and it doesn't matter to them in the slightest. A bonus is a famous name or even the British Royals. Have had many claims made to me that they are decended from a famous person, who it turns out never had any family and left do descendants.

They seem to have a need to feed an ego.

From what I can see this person is feeding these ego trips.

Mind you they would baulk at the cost of it, when they are alway looking out for a way to get the information for free.

[ilox]

I just tried for the FakeFamily site but got error messages;
"
If you are the owner of this web site you have not uploaded (or incorrectly uploaded) your web site. For information on uploading your web site using FTP client software or web design software, click here for FTP Upload Information.
"
Maybe it is down for a while? A long while perhaps?
;)

[Dick Eastman]

As reported by a number of people, FakeFamily.com is now offline. I have not heard any reports if this is a temporary situation or if it is permanent.