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Ancestry DNA?

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I am extremely torn on this one. The libertarian in me hates this.

Why? Is it the notion of being logged by the state? Vital Stats is already collecting a lot, and it's already linked to newborn screenings.

I wonder how far down the road it's trivial to 3D print a genomic sequence close enough to get someone framed.
 
I submitted mine.......

Irish/English, with other areas mixed in.

The reason I submitted mine was that I am adopted, my records are sealed. I have been able to trace my ancestry back to the 1400's, on one side of the 'family'.

Trying to link my mother's dna, whom I met when I was 10. It's funny, I have several hits on 1st/2nd cousins, and probably a half-sister. No one will answer queries.

I am looking for health information....I'd like to know what to 'watch' for.

They already have my fingerprints, I have not murdered anyone, not really worried about it.

DNA samples can be taken. Doesn't take much work on the government's part.
 
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I submitted mine.......

Irish/English, with other areas mixed in.

The reason I submitted mine was that I am adopted, my records are sealed. I have been able to trace my ancestry back to the 1400's, on one side of the 'family'.

Trying to link my mother's dna, whom I met when I was 10. It's funny, I have several hits on 1st/2nd cousins, and probably a half-sister. No one will answer queries.

I am looking for health information....I'd like to know what to 'watch' for.

They already have my fingerprints, I have not murdered anyone, not really worried about it.

DNA samples can be taken. Doesn't take much work on the government's part.

This^....collecting DNA is already easy to do.

Using a website to build your family tree is not something I feel overly personal and couldn’t be shared for others to see.

So if the police came to me and said they are looking for a killer who might be your 1,2,3rd cousin based on DNA, do you mind if we look at your family tree to get an idea of who that person is...id have ZERO issues with sharing. That’s just damn good police work.

This is completely different than tracking our personal data and making assumptions that “maybe” you’re the killer based on your cell phone GPS....this is freaking DNA left at the crime scene and then using your permission to look at a family tree. No harm there to me.

This is going to be a great way to catch murderers going forward.
 
.......

They already have my fingerprints, I have not murdered anyone, not really worried about it.

DNA samples can be taken. Doesn't take much work on the government's part.

Well perhaps not yet you haven't. And if you do, now you are screwed.
 
Multiple identical triplets submitted DNA separate and anonymously and they came back with different results. What more does one need to know these tests are a load of BS?

Well, believe as you wish. I have been able to trace my 'family' through my DNA test. And before you say that they followed my 'tree', I did not have a 'tree' for them to follow. All the information I have traced has been interesting and eye-opening.

What a time to be alive.

Anyway, since I did know a last name (not a first), I have been able to develop leads into my past. Now if folks would just answer my queries, the dam would break.

But, the DNA seems accurate. It linked things that could not have been linked without it. I filed to get my records unsealed some years ago......had that happened, I would have probably met my 'natural' father before he passed away. It is what it is though.

I can't answer for for anyones experience, seems like an interwebs rumor. Is it possible for triplets to have differing DNA? I am not sure, but I have read of cases where two persons fathered twins.

It's an interesting thing, especially when one is adopted with no means of learning about potential health concerns.

Amazing that they have 'traced' two murderers using the BS technology, huh?
 
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Well, believe as you wish. I have been able to trace my 'family' through my DNA test. And before you say that they followed my 'tree', I did not have a 'tree' for them to follow. All the information I have traced has been interesting and eye-opening.

What a time to be alive.

Anyway, since I did know a last name (not a first), I have been able to develop leads into my past. Now if folks would just answer my queries, the dam would break.

But, the DNA seems accurate. It linked things that could not have been linked without it. I filed to get my records unsealed some years ago......had that happened, I would have probably met my 'natural' father before he passed away. It is what it is though.

I can't answer for for anyones experience, seems like an interwebs rumor. Is it possible for triplets to have differing DNA? I am not sure, but I have read of cases where two persons fathered twins.

It's an interesting thing, especially when one is adopted with no means of learning about potential health concerns.

Amazing that they have 'traced' two murderers using the BS technology, huh?

It was identical triplets, and the differences boiled down to single digit percentages in bordering European countries (hers said 7.4% German/French and one sister was the same while another was 11.1%)
 
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That’s just damn good police work.
That maybe true at the moment but what worries me is what happens when this type of technology and data becomes available in a circumstance that resembles 1930's Germany or modern day Myanmar.

I understand that the evolution and availability is inevitable but like so many things in tech, companies need to understand the consequences of what they're creating rather than just building cool stuff for the sake of the next funding round or quarterly report while ignoring the massive potential they have for misuse and the need for safeguards against it.

Tech industry has been so exceptionally delinquent in abdicating the responsibility for the use of what they're creating and making naive excuses about things sorting themselves out in society. It's because of industries, greed, and cowardice like this that we need government regulations.
 
That maybe true at the moment but what worries me is what happens when this type of technology and data becomes available in a circumstance that resembles 1930's Germany or modern day Myanmar.

I understand that the evolution and availability is inevitable but like so many things in tech, companies need to understand the consequences of what they're creating rather than just building cool stuff for the sake of the next funding round or quarterly report while ignoring the massive potential they have for misuse and the need for safeguards against it.

Tech industry has been so exceptionally delinquent in abdicating the responsibility for the use of what they're creating and making naive excuses about things sorting themselves out in society. It's because of industries, greed, and cowardice like this that we need government regulations.

How in the world could Ancestory.com ever know that police would use DNA found by a murderer at the scene of a crime to reverse engineer a family tree to find the person who murdered????

And why would that ever stop them from going in business if they had predicted that as way to utilize the site???

From your view point,shouldn’t you be equally upset at the library system for tracking family history, deaths, and other data points the police used to reverse engineer the family tree?

Remember, the police only used the website to find out if the murderer had distant cousins who had already voluntarily submitted their DNA to the same site to learn who they might be distant relatives with, be it a serial killer like Golden Gate Killer or Billy the Kid. These people asked to know who they were related too, and the police helped them with their cause.

From there the police did old fashion police work. They filled out the family tree using methods such as paper death certificates and cematary records along with hospital birth records and so forth.

So shouldn’t also be upset with those entities for having these records on file for the police to siff through???
 
How in the world could Ancestory.com ever know that police would use DNA found by a murderer at the scene of a crime to reverse engineer a family tree to find the person who murdered????

From your view point,shouldn’t you be equally upset at the library system for tracking family history, deaths, and other data points the police used to reverse engineer the family tree?

Remember, the police only used the website to find out if the murderer had distant cousins who had already voluntarily submitted their DNA to the same site to learn who they might be distant relatives with, be it a serial killer like Golden Gate Killer or Billy the Kid. These people asked to know who they were related too, and the police helped them with their cause.

From there the police did old fashion police work. They filled out the family tree using methods such as paper death certificates and cematary records along with hospital birth records and so forth.

So shouldn’t also be upset with those entities for having these records on file for the police to siff through???
First few words of my post said that the above was in fact good police work.

However my point is that there are significant opportunities to misuse the data and technology if they fell into malicious hands, such as those of a genocidal government, e.g. Nazi Germany or current day Myanmar. Perhaps it's crazy to think that could happen here, but I'm not so sure, and certainly it's actively happening elsewhere today and this type of tech could exacerbate that.

I'm not making a black and white argument that this is bad tech, it's not, however I'm suggesting a more nuanced look at how it's used and how the data is controlled.
 
First few words of my post said that the above was in fact good police work.

However my point is that there are significant opportunities to misuse the data and technology if they fell into malicious hands, such as those of a genocidal government, e.g. Nazi Germany or current day Myanmar. Perhaps it's crazy to think that could happen here, but I'm not so sure, and certainly it's actively happening elsewhere today and this type of tech could exacerbate that.

I'm not making a black and white argument that this is bad tech, it's not, however I'm suggesting a more nuanced look at how it's used and how the data is controlled.

You’re talking about a much bigger topic that extends well outside of how the data was used in this situation.

I worked at Google for a brief period and constantly talked about the dirt our servers had on people.

Users type their most intimate personal details of their life in the google search bar, they type things they don’t share with the closet people in their lives, and Google keeps records of ALL of it and can trace directly back to the individual user who searched it.

That is some scary stuff when you think how Makaveli type personalaities could use the info.

And to your point, when the good people at google are dead and gone, what happens then???

And...maybe the government already have Backdoor access to the google searches to user who searched info (they definitely know the searches)

Watch last Sunday’s 60 minutes, they did a great piece on this.
 
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You’re talking about a much bigger topic that extends well outside of how the data was used in this situation.
Yes, yes I am.
And I agree with the remainder of what you wrote.

We've already seen data misuse and that was under the purview of generally well-intentioned execs. What happens when you've got a sociopath exec or a regime that forcibly seizes the data for their own malicious purposes.

I'm not suggesting we stop building new tech, simply that there be enough reasonable safeguards to reasonably prevent it from turning into massive threat to society.
 
It was identical triplets, and the differences boiled down to single digit percentages in bordering European countries (hers said 7.4% German/French and one sister was the same while another was 11.1%)

Thank you for this response.

It would be obtuse as to think that there are no differences in 'identical' twins or even triplets. While science has traced the genome and the genetical input to a pretty micro level, I am not sure we really understand how all of it works. As I understand it, and I may be wrong, obtuse or stupid myself, but DNA imprinting can have slight variances. If not, then why does your brother not look and act just like you (or your sister)? Why does one child look like members of the maternal parent, while the next sibling looks like members of the paternal family (same mother and father).

I think the only way that genetic differences can be erased is through cloning, and if you cloned yourself today, then the new you would be different than the now you. Not genetically, but different......

When Ply said it was different, I was thinking that entire sequence was different, rather than percentages. I submit that these are not exact. Heck, I get emails from Ancestry all the time that they have improved their sequencing.....that must mean they are doing a better job or that the science is improving. Occasionally, I wonder if I should re-submit to get a better reading.

With all that said, I think it is amazing. Honestly, I knew so little about my particular case that the entire thing is somewhat overwhelming.

But, hey, I admit that I don't know everything about it...actually, after re-reading my comments, I am probably pretty stupid about the whole thing. But, I am admittedly happy in my ignorance.
 
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Looks like it was mostly right with the triplets/quads, and they claim to have improved technology since the story.

 
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No. Because it's stupid.
I don't think it's necessarily stupid but..........why? I don't really care and it makes no difference to my life. I'm U. S. American. I don't care to be referred to as: British American, African American, Asian American, Liechtensteiner American or Parisian American. Then again, that's my personal preference. if you want to call me any of those then knock yourself out but it's no big shakes to me.
 
I heard an ad for the World Cup, sponsored by one of the DNA sites, exhorting fans to get a DNA test so they can support their roots.
Thought it was a clever angle given the US is out...
 
I paid $69 on a Ancestory.com special - got my results then the results changed based on an expanded data base.

The first report surprised me by showing 28% Scandinavia, I actually got excited about Viking blood. The second report replaced that dream with a big dna allocation from France.

37% England, Wales and NW Europe
31% France
24% Ireland and Scotland
8% Sweden

The website identifies people or user names with similar dna; pretty quick I get an email from a match who traces back to the Island of Jersey about which I am clueless.

It's been interesting.
 
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I paid $69 on a Ancestory.com special - got my results then the results changed based on an expanded data base.

The first report surprised me by showing 28% Scandinavia, I actually got excited about Viking blood. The second report replaced that dream with a big dna allocation from France.

37% England, Wales and NW Europe
31% France
24% Ireland and Scotland
8% Sweden

The website identifies people or user names with similar dna; pretty quick I get an email from a match who traces back to the Island of Jersey about which I am clueless.

It's been interesting.
Interesting that they update results. I just logged in and indeed saw an updated map and percentages.
TBH the second set of results seem less accurate than the initial ones but what do I know.
 
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I did it last year.

I knew I was English and Irish. I got 96% English and Irish, 3% Norwegian (had no clue) and 1% African.

Congo, bitches!

I had no idea I was part-African-American.

To say it was a life changing experience would be an understatement.
 
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I paid $69 on a Ancestory.com special - got my results then the results changed based on an expanded data base.

The first report surprised me by showing 28% Scandinavia, I actually got excited about Viking blood. The second report replaced that dream with a big dna allocation from France.

37% England, Wales and NW Europe
31% France
24% Ireland and Scotland
8% Sweden

The website identifies people or user names with similar dna; pretty quick I get an email from a match who traces back to the Island of Jersey about which I am clueless.

It's been interesting.

France and Scandinavia can share a lot of DNA depending on where they came from. The Western coast of France was controlled by the Normans/Northmen (hence Normandy) and when they came over to conquer England they were a mix of old Franks and Scandinavian. My paternal lineage was recorded for almost a thousand years and a distant cousin of mine wrote a family book tracing our paternal family from one of the earliest settlements in Virginia (Middle Plantation near modern Williamsburg) to Scotland to the Northumberland border of England to the Normandy area of France and back to the original Danish/Norwegian invasion/settlement of France (after that records are scarce).

So what I'm saying is it could be entirely legitimate to say you're descended from ancestors in France who were Nordic in origin.
 
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My neighbor just discovered that he has a 26 year old daughter based on the results of one of those DNA tests. It was an old girlfriend that never told him (and lied to the daughter).

Really odd situation for him, as he is now married with HS and MS aged kids.
 
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My neighbor just discovered that he has a 26 year old daughter based on the results of one of those DNA tests. It was an old girlfriend that never told him (and lied to the daughter).

Really odd situation for him, as he is now married with HS and MS aged kids.
How did that play out?
Both he and the kid used the same testing website and the site notified the kid she’s got a 1 degree of separation match w neighbor guy?

At least kid is past college age, avoided those bills.
 
My neighbor just discovered that he has a 26 year old daughter based on the results of one of those DNA tests. It was an old girlfriend that never told him (and lied to the daughter).

Really odd situation for him, as he is now married with HS and MS aged kids.
I never understood the fascination with these kits before, but now I'm 100% sure I'm not ever going to try one.
 
How did that play out?
Both he and the kid used the same testing website and the site notified the kid she’s got a 1 degree of separation match w neighbor guy?

At least kid is past college age, avoided those bills.
I'm not clear on the details, but my understanding is that his half-brother had the test done, and somehow they connected my neighbor to his daughter based on the results. He had to do an internet search based on her name to track her down and make contact on Facebook.
 
France and Scandinavia can share a lot of DNA depending on where they came from. The Western coast of France was controlled by the Normans/Northmen (hence Normandy) and when they came over to conquer England they were a mix of old Franks and Scandinavian. My paternal lineage was recorded for almost a thousand years and a distant cousin of mine wrote a family book tracing our paternal family from one of the earliest settlements in Virginia (Middle Plantation near modern Williamsburg) to Scotland to the Northumberland border of England to the Normandy area of France and back to the original Danish/Norwegian invasion/settlement of France (after that records are scarce).

So what I'm saying is it could be entirely legitimate to say you're descended from ancestors in France who were Nordic in origin.
You've made me feel better about binge watching Norsemen Season 2 on Netflix.
 
Did mine I had a blast since my grandfather was adopted. Met some of his blood family.

93% Scottish/English
7% Native American

Explains my red hair, pasty pale skin with freckles, and hazel green eyes.
The amazing ability to sunburn within >1 minute is the only thing I'd change.
 
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