DNA test: Why shouldn't I do this?

John Wesley Hardin, Clyde Barrow, and some Injun banged my great, great, grandmothers.
I just want peace, love, and good happiness stuff.

I'm in the same boat. Adopted,met biological mother,sister...but no idea who my father is,except he's not the same one as my sister. I haven't been on speaking terms with my birth mother since shortly after our initial reconnect. I too have considered one of these tests but of course the tin foil gears start churning. I have to agree though,that if DNA was wanted it would already be had. Still creates an air of doubt in me though. Please let us know if you decide to proceed with it.

a reply to: Ghost147

So what can the government do with your tiny amount of spit? What's the worry of them having your DNA?
They already know you exist. You have a birth certificate, a social security number, and if you work you pay taxes.
Sooooooo...what's the beef?

a reply to: Pillywiggin

What are you saying? OP could be framed for a crime or be found out? If he had committed a crime and left DNA behind he probably wouldnt be looking to do this anyway. If he did and does this anyway well he gets what he deserves. But I doubt it.
He can't be framed for a crime unless it was a crime for biting because they test a tiny amount of spit.

a reply to: violet

What do you have on ancestry.com? What makes them ...not honest?

It's not really about the 'government' getting your DNA, they've already got it if they want it. For me it would be about giving some for-profit company my DNA. Medical information such as DNA is protected under HIPAA laws. Companies like Ancestry can "say" whatever they want about what they will and won't do with the data, but the realities are things like DNA would not be protected under these laws because the DNA samples were not provided for medical purposes.

Further, just think about it...companies like Ancestry don't have large segments of the world population in their databases...so what are they going to compare your data to??? They're more than likely just going to make up some babooey out of the blue about your ancestry and take your money. What you don't know is, the money they make off of you for this service pales in comparison to the money they will make off of selling your data to the mammoth data mining companies. They say they won't do it, but they will. They'll use some microscopic loophole in their fine print which would take 50 attorneys to understand. They planned it this way, and wrote it this way just so you'd have to hire those 50 attorneys to spot the loophole.

Many times companies don't realize the value of certain data when they begin harvesting it. Google is a good example of this; they started out as a simple search engine, but when the value of what people typed (keywords, etc) became clear Google went from being a simple search engine to being a data-mining powerhouse the likes of which the world has never seen! Ancestry and other companies probably see this DNA data as being of statistical value in the future, but how exactly they may not know. They just know if they can get large quantities of it, they could be the next Google.

That's what I'd be thinking about.

I would totally do this if I could afford it! I would love to know what it says. I am not worried about the government taking my DNA, if they want it they can get it from a simple blood draw at a regular doctor's visit.

I know my mom's side is of Italian and Sicilian decent. My dad well the only thing I know is my last name is German but has French origins. I don't know anything else other than that so this would be a cool test! I am like heinz 57, a little bit of everything!

Good luck!

a reply to: Ghost147
If your worried that Ancestry etc. will keep your DNA private, don't worry they wont.
The only part you should concentrate on is the last bit "except as legally required". That little tit bit exonerates them of responsibility and it's a nice clause that says the authorities can and will have your DNA profile if they want it.
And for all you people that say "oh, DNA it's nothing, let them have it" etc., etc.
For detective purposes it can not only put you in a frame it can also lead to any of your blood relatives being fingered. So if your cousin gets caught for murder from your DNA result just hope they catch him before he gets to you. Good luck with that one.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: violet

What do you have on ancestry.com? What makes them ...not honest?

I have nothing to prove it. I just talked to a couple of them on the phone about some stuff and they outright lied. They're a big company and they seem to own all the competitions sites.

I do however find that tv ad to be misleading , but I've only seen my daughter's and their friends results. 23 and Me does DNA and it's different. Like I said the countries you come from are so vague. One issue I have is you get the 14 day free trial but if you don't cancel your credit card will incur charges. I see some are unable to cancel . I've learnt most learn to cancel and you can keep your trees you worked on, but all the sources you saved are no longer viewable.

I think though you can do the DNA but don't get that trial thing.

I did a family tree search on it , was good for sources but I had to order birth and death records to get more info.

Here's what the ancestry site DNA results look like , if anyone wants to know.
The lower portion, when you click on it just brings up a map, which is vague

Siblings can get different results, my daughters don't match up. You might have more genes in you from your psrents . My other daughter got only 20% Irish and more British Isles.

It also shows your matches of other profiles like 4th cousins, distant relatives etc. One daughter had people from their fathers grandmothers side but the other daughter didn't. With the latter having a distant cousin from my fathers side.

www.cbsnews.com...

a reply to: violet in the link I posted on page 1 the story of angie dodge that was murdered 20 years ago...they had dna tested the people she hung out with all test negative...they went after one of them anyway...christopher tapp denied for days under police interrogation that he did not do it, under the immense pressure he confessed..they were so sure the dna was a match comes back nada/zero/no match

he was found guilty because he confessed, he is an only child..his dad died a few years ago and they wouldn't let him go to the funeral...his mom tried for years to get her son justice,,,,that show on id discovery found some recording of interrogations and it was horrible,,they fed him details...angies mom carol dodge believes him to be innocent as well

so in 2014 the id discovery show contacted ancestry.com to see if they could do a familial dna test...they gave the ok and it was ran.....there was a CLOSE match to a man 34 out of 35 dna markers matched in the test, he was part of a group from a church that did a geneology project where they had their dna tested...he has a son (michael ursey jr)...the cops are sure must be the son...he was in the area where the woman was killed and was making slasher film at the time.....cops manhandle him down to the station being very vague and get a swab sample from inside his cheek release him....he tells his friend it was to do with a high profile case in a city and around what year..friend looks up on the computer and tells him the case

dna comes back NEGATIVE....he could have been a real D>>> about the whole thing but he is helping the mom of the murder victim to hopefully find the murderer (they explained it is someone distantly related from someone a few generations back in his family tree) and he wanted to get out the dna story.......the finally let that poor guy out of jail, he can't sue or pursue anything to do with the case.....the cops actually were interviewed and stuck to their crap story

I really hope they find a match and the guilty party has nothing to do with the poor guy who suffered in prison for 20 years, making those cops look like idiots

a reply to: research100

Well I do believe once you've submitted DNA it's gonna go in a database and I actually think this ancestry site and others like it are really just a way to get everyone in the world to be on file. Say what they will about not sharing it. As soon as I looked into this site I saw it was very addicting. I logged into my daughter's and I couldn't get off it! People by nature are curious. So many are doing this DNA thing. I saw posts on how people try to unsubscribe but it was like a drug they kept going back to.

Like you said they can search the familial route. Say joe smith did the DNA, he's not committed any crimes, but now his DNA is on file and cops are looking for a match in the database and up pops joe, joe lives in another country, solid alibi... not him, but they investigate and one of joe's distant relatives does live near the crime and has a # alibi... so let's make him the prime suspect. Now the argument can be they test him and he is the culprit. Ok fair, but if it's not fair if there was another innocent explanation for his DNA being on the case. If his alibi sucks , it must be him, they want to prosecute and it doesn't matter. There may very well be another relative of his who did it who had a better alibi, who they never even found. So you can get busted on something you otherwise would not have been , all down to this DNA. It's a stretch but entirely possible.

This ancestry site has all the people you share DNA with ( who did the test) you can search through your matches by country. All very convenient.

a reply to: violet

It is even more worrying than that.

If your DNA is on record then ...

An intel agency intercepts your blood test and take a few mils. Then they leave it at the scene of a crime they have committed. Try get out of that one Houdini.

The question really is do you trust your Government, FBI, Police, intel agencies and the Clintons.

P

a reply to: Ghost147

I'd hesitate myself! Not sure I'd trust those doing the collecting. Still, if one ever has to give blood for a lab test, they could already have it, so there is that. Heck, being blonde, I shed more hair than the average non-blonde, so easy there, too, lol!

Need vs risk, and only you can answer if you should.

a reply to: Ghost147

I don't even know my biological fathers name, and I've inherited Allergies and Asthma from him. Fun...

Yes, the good old puny Y chromosome, eh? Ensuring that, for all time, sons will inherit dad's # genes.

There were flowers on my dad's grave, but I left a set of dentures.

Still thinkin' of ya, pops.