Alarm!!!
I read a bunch of history books, mostly "popular" subjects by professional historians. They usually end with a score or more pages of references. I usually skip them.
I have bank accounts, credit card accounts, and a critically important retirement account. All of the financial institutions controlling these accounts periodically send me notices of changes - new Terms of Service, or changes to the rules governing the account. I usually skip them, or, at best, skim the summaries which often accompany them.
When I install or upgrade software on my computer or phone, there is a vendor's agreement which has to be accepted before the installation. Maybe this even has to be read before you click the box "I agree". I bet that I am not the only person who hits the scroll down to get to the end, but reads none of the legal words. It's called "clicking through".
Another place where a Terms of Service (TOS) agreement is often slighted is on the websites where you can build your family tree or post many kinds of data. You actually have a contract with the owner of such a site, and sometimes close attention to the TOS is merited.
On August third, Ancestry.com sent a notice of the changes in their TOS and Privacy Rules. Don't click through these! There is a lot of heavy reading here, but a few very bright folks have done most of it for you. In essence the change is that the rights which you granted to Ancestry ( and Find A Grave, Fold3, Newspapers.com, and any other parts of Ancestry.com) now are perpetual and non-revocable and not dependent upon whether you remove "User Content" or even whether you are still a user of Ancestry Family Trees.
To get a better understanding of the changes, check Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, at https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2021/08/04/one-big-change-at-ancestry/, and at https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2021/08/06/ancestry-retreats/.
A discussion of the alternative strategies which are available is at
AncestryDNA evidently is not affected by these changes - but it never hurts to keep your eyes open.
Alan H Zeller ahzeller21@gmail.com
