Genealogy: sharing old civil records without exposing living people
Old birth, marriage and census records can still name people who are alive today. Here is what to check and mask, by country, before you share them.
The GDPR does not protect the personal data of people who have died. Recital 27 says so directly, and an old birth or marriage certificate falls outside it. But the same certificate often names someone still alive, a child, a witness, or a person in a later marginal note. That person stays fully protected.
Does the GDPR protect dead relatives in a genealogy record?
Recital 27 of the GDPR says the regulation does not apply to the personal data of deceased people. It adds that member states may set their own rules for it. In France, the data protection authority CNIL confirms the same point: once a person has died, the GDPR itself steps aside for their data.
This Regulation does not apply to the personal data of deceased persons. Member States may provide for rules regarding the processing of personal data of deceased persons. (GDPR, Recital 27)
So far, so simple for an 1870 birth certificate. The problem starts when a page mixes generations. A French birth certificate carries marginal notes added decades later: a marriage in 1958, a divorce in 1991, an adoption in 2003. Claire Exemple's grandmother's 1930 birth record can show Claire's own 2003 adoption, and Claire is very much alive today.
When do civil records and censuses become public?
Archives do not open a record the day someone dies. Each country sets a fixed delay, called communicability in France, after which anyone can consult the original. The delay depends on the country and the type of record, and it runs from the record's own date, not from the person's death.
| Country | Record type | Becomes public after | Still check before you post |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | Birth and marriage records | 75 years (25 years after death, if sooner) | Marginal notes, later addresses |
| France | Death records | No delay, public immediately | Living informants named on the page |
| Germany | Birth register (Geburtenregister) | 110 years | Adoption or paternity notes added later |
| Germany | Marriage register | 80 years | A spouse or child who may still be alive |
| Germany | Death register (Sterberegister) | 30 years | A young widow or child listed on the page |
| United Kingdom | Census returns | 100 years | Household members born late in the covered period |
| United States | Census returns | 72 years | Household members who could still be alive |
France's Code du patrimoine sets the 75-year rule for birth and marriage records, counted from the date the register closes. If the person named has died, the delay drops to 25 years from the death, whichever is shorter. Death records carry no delay at all.
Germany's Personenstandsgesetz, its civil status law, fixes the retention periods in paragraph 5. Birth registers open after 110 years, marriage and partnership registers after 80, and death registers after 30. After that period, the local Standesamt or an archive can open the register to researchers.
In the United Kingdom, the Census Act 1920 protects personal census data. The Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991 tightened it, making early disclosure an offence until 100 years have passed. The National Archives released the 1921 census in January 2022, just over a century after it was taken.
The United States applies a 72-year rule to its own census. The National Archives explains that because of this restriction, the most recent census open to the public is the 1950 count, released in April 2022. Earlier censuses, back to 1790, are already open.
What should you mask before you post an old record?
A record can be legally public and still expose someone alive today. Before you upload a scan to a family tree site or a forum, read the whole page, not just the ancestor's name in the middle.
- Any living person named on the page, including a child, a spouse, or a witness who signed.
- Marginal notes added later: a recognition of a child, an adoption, a divorce, a name change.
- Full addresses, especially on a document less than a few decades old.
- ID numbers, passport numbers, or military service numbers on more recent papers in the same file.
Do old photos and family letters need the same care?
A photograph or a letter is not a civil record, but it can name or show people who are still alive. A 1975 letter about a family dispute may mention a cousin who reads your post today. A group photo from a reunion can include people who never agreed to appear online.
Before you share a photo or a letter, ask living relatives if they mind being named or shown. When in doubt, crop the image, mask the caption, or keep the item private and share only the parts that concern people long deceased.
Why do old registers need a visual check, not just a scan?
Old civil registers and census pages are handwritten, often in a clerk's cursive from another century. Automated text recognition struggles with old handwriting, and OCR tools built for typed documents do not read it reliably. You have to check the page yourself, line by line.
ONYRI Sanitize reads a scanned record in the browser with on-device OCR and masks printed names, dates, and addresses it recognises. For a handwritten entry or a marginal note, its Draw an area tool lets you cover it by hand instead. On an old handwritten register, most of the masking still has to be done this way, page by page.
- Open the full page, not just the entry you searched for.
- Read every marginal note and its date before you decide who is still alive.
- Zoom into handwriting you cannot read instead of trusting an automatic scan.
- Cover names, addresses, and ID numbers of anyone who could still be living.
- Ask a living relative before you post a photo or a personal letter.
Frequently asked questions
Can I post a 200-year-old birth certificate that names a living descendant only in a modern marginal note?
Read the marginal note's date first. If it records something recent, such as an adoption or a name change, the person it names may be alive today. Mask that note, or crop the record to the historical entry only.
Is a French death certificate from last year already public?
Yes. Under the Code du patrimoine, death records carry no communicability delay in France, so anyone can request a copy. That does not mean you should post it as is: the informant named on it is often a living relative.
Do I need family consent to share an old photo online?
There is no single legal answer. If everyone shown has died, sharing usually raises no personal-data issue. If a living relative appears, ask them first, the same courtesy you would want for a photo of yourself.
My scanned register page has both typed and handwritten sections. Can I trust an automatic tool with the typed part?
A tool that reads printed text, such as OCR, can help with typed sections, but always recheck its result. Handwritten entries and marginal notes still need your own eyes, line by line.
A UK census page lists a child born just before the 100-year cutoff. Could that child still be alive?
It is possible. Someone born 99 years before the census opened could be close to 100 years old today. Check birth and death dates before you assume everyone on an old census page has died.
Sources & references
- Recital 27 — personal data of deceased personsgdpr-info.eu
- Personenstandsgesetz, section 5 (register retention periods)Bundesministerium der Justiz — gesetze-im-internet.de
- Census records and the 100-year ruleThe National Archives (UK)
- The 72-Year Rule and access to census recordsNational Archives (NARA, US)
- Public access delays for civil status archives (birth, marriage and death records)Archives départementales du Pas-de-Calais