Privacy

As caretakers of some graves of U.S. Servicemen buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial of Margraten we respect the urge to do research on the life of the soldiers buried in a grave far from his or her homeland. Watching out for a person who died in a terrible war which secured the freedom of millions of people is a respectful thing to do but it also presumes certain responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is respecting the privacy of others. The right to privacy is one of the many contemporary rights protected by law. This is just one of the distinguishing marks of a (European) democratic society for which these young soldiers gave their lives decades ago.

Not only because Dutch privacy legislation is stricter than the American Privacy Act, but because this website is operated by Dutch citizens it is primarily subject to the Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens (Personal Data Protection Act);

Article 1.b. Processing of personal data shall mean: any operation or any set of operations concerning personal data, including in any case the collection, recording, organization, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, consultation, use, dissemination by means of transmission, distribution or making available in any other form, merging, linking, as well as blocking, erasure or destruction of data

Personal data play an important role in many areas. However, personal data also need to be protected in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of citizens.

Pursuant to the Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) as an independent institution checks that the personal data are used carefully and are protected and that citizens’ privacy continues to be sufficiently guaranteed, both now and in the future. The Dutch DPA advises the government, tests codes of conduct, studies technological developments, gives information, handles complaints, evaluates processing of personal data and, if necessary, takes enforcement action.

For more information see the website of the DPA :Dutch Data Protection Authority

Information published at Fallen But Not Forgotten is solely provided in compliance with article 8 of the 'Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens' : Personal data may only be processed where the data subject has unambiguously given his consent for the processing;

Whether you are Dutch or American, we expect you to be respectful of the privacy of others. Whenever an enquiry of any kind should meet some sort of objection or protest, please cease your enquiries immediately.