Posted on 02/04/2019 12:47:13 PM PST by RightGeek
Worried about your privacy after taking an at-home DNA test? Here's what you should know and what you can do.
If you’ve sent a DNA sample such as a tube of spit to 23andMe, Ancestry, MyHeritage, or one of the many other companies that offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing, you’ve sent them the essential information they need to provide you with their analysis of your genetic code.
[SNIP] But if you later decide that you want to remove your genetic information from the web for privacy reasons, can you? And should you?
Genetic data can reveal information about your health, your risk for certain diseases, and your familial relationships—potentially including those previously unknown or undisclosed.
But deleting your genetic data is not always straightforward, according to James Hazel, Ph.D., J.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The degree to which you have control over the genetic information you’ve submitted, and even your physical DNA sample, “varies widely, depending on the company,” says Hazel, who has published research on the privacy policies of genetic testing companies.
“Some companies provide a relatively high level of control over that information,” he says, making deletion of genetic data or destruction of a genetic sample easy. “On the other side of the spectrum you have companies with little to no policy in place, or policies that permit storage of your sample and the data, sometimes indefinitely.”
We'll explain what you need to know about your genetic privacy, along with step-by-step instructions for removing your data from three of the biggest DNA-testing sites.
(Excerpt) Read more at consumerreports.org ...
Well, I’m not a serial murderer. Nor am I donating Sperm. Adoptions may need to have ramifications, though there should be restrictions on what you can do with it, which of course you wouldn’t have with our overzealous judicial system.
Yes. I understand what you are saying but if my sister sends a sample to an alleged private DNA service and the police obtain that sample, I do not think that is kosher. If they approached my sister and asked her for her DNA, I do not believe they can compel her to submit a sample without a court order.
What they have been doing is getting sample that is close, say from my sister. Follow me around and grab my coffee cup and use that sample. How can they legally obtain the information from the private DNA service? How would they know my sister sent it in, assuming they have their suspect pool narrowed that fine. There is a case here in the SF area where they got a close match to a suspect, narrowed the suspect pool after that. IN other words, the person they eventually arrested they didn’t know existed until they obtained a relative’s sample from the DNA service. They then determines she had a relative in the SF area (she was in Ohio). IN other words, it was a big fishing expedition.
How do we rapidly populate the DNA database?
Figure out how to make the sheep want to get in line for the slaughterhouse and pay you for the privilege.
;)
It was interesting how they got the Golden State Killer. I think it was via his daughter’s DNA.
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