To Dancing Master who wrote:
"I don't understand this, if someone has donated some work to an individual upon their decease then it becomes the property of that person and presumably all rights to it becomes theirs"
The UK MWI was set up to share information amongst all genealogists, and sharing is what most of us do. Is it not?
Ted Wildy who died in 1997 would have been horrified to know that his database, which was contributed to by thousands, had become the private preserve of the person who it was given to after his death to continue the work. Access to the information has been limited to the 1994 version for the past couple of years. Now this is about to change, thankfully.
Anyone who sets up a public database that others freely contribute to has a duty to ensure access remains. Rootsweb and other sites will host the information without charge. A good number of the contributors, including myself, were extremely annoyed that the UK MWI was on the verge of being totally lost. The Australian MWI has been destroyed according to the lady who was given it.
There is a least one certificate exchange site that now charges for data that others give for nothing. That site which was offered free hosting and refused it will eventually disappear without trace. Contributing to projects such as FreeBMD and family history society indexing means that your work will remain available as intended.
Keith, Wellington, NZ
