DNA companies, searches, and ethics

[Devildoc]

I have not given up a swab to trace my ancestry, mainly because I am very leery to give up my DNA so freely (I did do it in the Navy). This is an interesting article discussing searching for someone based on DNA. I see all sorts of ethical and legal issues.

So many people have had their DNA sequenced that they've put other people's privacy in jeopardy - Los Angeles Times

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

Hmmm, I get the wish to remain anonymous at the present day, but I view this a bit like finger prints. Unless someone is doing something they are not supposed to be doing, this seems like a no big deal issue. I guess I'm on the fence, probably because the government has both my DNA and Prints, most likely my biometrics as well.

That said, it raises an interesting question on the 4th amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Can you be secure in you person, if the government literally has your "person" on file?

It's worth a discussion IMHO, obviously as members of the military we submitted finger prints and DNA as requirement of service. Thus a warrant is not needed as it was an act of admission of sorts. Does that eliminate our 4th amendment right?

But yet I fall back to the "if you ain't doing anything wrong, you ain't got nothing to worry about" .

 

[Gunz]

Both my wife and I submitted DNA samples to Ancestry.com. If I'd thought it would compromise my PERSEC I wouldn't have done it. Like @Diamondback 2/2 writes, if you're military, you're already on file. And Mrs. O worked for DHS so her info is also accessible.

However...The results of her DNA analysis were shocking. She discovered that the man who raised her (and who lived with us in his final years) was not her biological dad. A lot of people are finding out their parents lied to them.

There are some very disturbing cases about men who were sperm donors in the 1970s. The women who were impregnated with donated sperm usually invented stories about mythical fathers to tell their children. Now, through DNA, some of those children are discovering they have dozens of half-siblings, some numbering in the hundreds.

As young men most of us hit it whenever the opportunity arose...and then fled the scene like thieves in the night, lol. There are millions of potential illegitimate children out there who might just ring your freakin doorbell someday.

Consider also that many people have opened their lives up on the internet and through social media, a kind of electronic DNA signature. I feel that's almost more of a PERSEC threat than DNA.

 

[DC]

I was adopted so I did DNA testing to find biological parents and/or hereditary medical concerns. I was told by my adoptive parents that my heritage was what they knew. I found thru DNA that what they told me was completely false. I also discovered my biological parents were allowed to put any names they desired on the paperwork. They didn’t want to be found.
The tests I did were Ancestry, NatGeo and My Heritage. The results were the basically the same. Ancestry did contact me recently to inform me that DNA doesn’t change but technology does. Hence my heritage results were more detailed than before. I found the experience very intriguing especially from what I was told and what was reality about my heritage. As for any medical issues that still remains unknown.

 

[Devildoc]

@Diamondback 2/2 , good point about whether 4A applies to servicemen. I don't know.

@Ocoka I think it's a different type of threat than social media/PERSEC. Could there be a potential for fraud and abuse regarding organ donations? Selling the information to employers who choose to hire/not hire because of fill-in-the-blank? The latter we have definitely seen with social media, people being fired for what they put out on FB, twitter, etc. Maybe they fire you for carrying the CF gene, knowing that it would be too costly to ensure your kids if they have cystic fibrosis. I don't know. My spidy sense starts tingling with this stuff.

But I DO see the value in it with ancestry/genealogy, health research, etc. I admit my curiosity: before my parents were married, my mother was a naughty girl and I found out from her oldest sister that my mom gave up a son for adoption when she was a teenager. I would love to figure that out.

 

[DC]

@Diamondback 2/2 , good point about whether 4A applies to servicemen. I don't know.
But I DO see the value in it with ancestry/genealogy, health research, etc. I admit my curiosity: before my parents were married, my mother was a naughty girl and I found out from her oldest sister that my mom gave up a son for adoption when she was a teenager. I would love to figure that out.

Mommy? Bro?

 

[Devildoc]

Mommy? Bro?

You could have the worst brother. You could not have a worst mother. I would not wish that on anyone.

 

[Kraut783]

Just to be clear, when the DOD takes your DNA it is purely for body identification of remains. It cannot be accessed for criminal offenses....seriously. It is very walled off.

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

Just to be clear, when the DOD takes your DNA it is purely for body identification of remains. It cannot be accessed for criminal offenses....seriously. It is very walled off.

Well that is good to know, I always figured that shit went to the FBI along with the prints.

 

[Kraut783]

Well that is good to know, I always figured that shit went to the FBI along with the prints.

Movies and TV shows don't help when they show NCIS accessing the DNA database with a flick of the switch

 

[Devildoc]

Movies and TV shows don't help when they show NCIS accessing the DNA database with a flick of the switch

You mean they don't?

If NCIS actually had or did 10% of what the show had it would be an awesome place to work.

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

Movies and TV shows don't help when they show NCIS accessing the DNA database with a flick of the switch

I never got into that show, my show was JAG back in the day... lol

I honestly remember a safety brief one time, some PSG acting 1SG, something to the effect "y'all dicks don't be going out raping the locals, we've got your DNA on file" or some shit like that. Sparking the question in our platoon "hey when did they get our DNA" leading to "oh they got all our DNA, they send that shit to the FBI".

IDK, I've been drunk since then. But it was a comical safety brief.

 

[Gunz]

Just to be clear, when the DOD takes your DNA it is purely for body identification of remains. It cannot be accessed for criminal offenses....seriously. It is very walled off.

Not even under court order, like medical records?

 

[Kraut783]

No, and not to confuse the DoD DNA Registry with FBI Laboratory’s CODIS. CODIS is a searchable DNA database for law enforcement and searches the DNA collected from convicted felons.

And for court orders for medical records you would have to identify who's records you needed to release and why. If you had a person identified and the probable cause, just get a search warrant for the subjects DNA.

 

[GOTWA]

Everyone looks at these types of items as a privacy concern from government and that is the wrong reason entirely. Wait until these organizations start selling this information to other commercial entities for profit. I'll add to this later when I'm not on my phone. Plus call of duty just came out. My priorities are kind of in order right now.

 

[AWP]

Dear Shadowspear,
Do you think my DNA could be in a database somewhere?
Signed,
Monica in Blue