Protection of personal data

All documents published in the Ancestor Portal are freely available for consultation. Italian law separately regulates the consultation of documents containing personal data on the one hand, and their dissemination on the other, and prohibits the publication of personal data found in archival documents in ways that are detrimental to the dignity of those concerned.

The Code of cultural heritage and landscape (d. lgs. 42/2004, art. 122) regulates the searchability of archival records and dictates the exclusion from free consultation for 40 or 70 years of records containing certain categories of personal data (the longest protected data are those that can reveal health status, sex life or confidential family relationships). Personal Data Protection Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003, Art. 93) allows only after 100 years the disclosure of documents “that make identifiable the mother who has declared that she does not wish to be named.”

Deontological rules for processing for archival purposes in the public interest or for historical research purposes (Annex A.2 to Legislative Decree 196/2003) dictate rules on the dissemination of personal data contained in archival documents (see in particular Article 11). These Rules should be put into practice not only when dealing with recent documents, but also when using, for example, documents from the Ancestor Portal. Among other things, the Ethics Rules state that, you may disseminate personal data if it is relevant and essential to the research and if it does not harm the dignity and privacy of individuals. (art. 11, c. 4).