Free 'Family Tree' Website Raises Privacy Concerns

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A website that claims to help you find your family tree has some people feeling like their privacy was invaded.

FamilyTreeNow.com is free. By simply searching your name, it will show you possible relatives, associates, your current address, and where you used to live -- and all of it is public.

WCCO's Jeff Wagner shows us why that has people scrambling to get their information removed.

Part of a journalists job is to find people. In this case, we had them search for themselves on FamilyTreeNow.

"This has everything," WCCO reporter John Lauritsen said.

By that he means a list of possible relatives, their ages as well as past and current addresses.

"This is what they talk about, it's kind of like big brother, it's all out there," Lauritsen said.

"I don't know why this is helpful or interesting," WCCO reporter Angela Davis said. "Why whould this be interesting to anyone?"

The websites goal is to help people figure out their family tree. It says it pulls information from public records, such as birth, marriage and death certificates.

Cyber security experts say this should be a reminder for people to be careful, especially if they're worried about possible stalking.

There is a way to opt out of being on the site -- and it shouldn't be a surprise that everyone we talked with did just that.

"The home address part bothers me for security reasons, but yeah, I would probably opt out," Davis said.

"I really don't have a lot to hide, so not too worried about it," Lauritsen said. "But we're on TV, and you never know."

You can opt out of the website here. It doesn't take long to complete, but the site says it could take up to two days to get your info removed.