23andMe and other dna ancestry stuff

[fumei]

I am definitely skeptical. As stated, these are statistical findings.

My brother and I did DNA testing. Got different results between ancestry and 23andMe; got different results between us.

Meh.

I suppose there may be some usefulness for some people, but a bloody waste of money as far as I go.

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by Tico

Exactly!

... and I'll bet they're making lots of money selling it to life and health insurance companies so they know who to ostracize, employers too.

No thanks.

I just skimmed the details from Ancestry's privacy center. You own your sample, data, and information, and it's not shared unless you give specific instruction to do so. If you request to destroy the sample and results, they do not keep records, and their sample gathering is done via encrypted code, so there is nothing to tie a person directly with the sample provided.

This is one of those things, where people seem to get worked up without having the facts. They're not selling your data, they make their money off of the test kits and subscription services, and if you don't want to share your results, simply change your privacy settings. It's pretty straightforward, really.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

I just skimmed the details from Ancestry's privacy center. You own your sample, data, and information, and it's not shared unless you give specific instruction to do so. If you request to destroy the sample and results, they do not keep records, and their sample gathering is done via encrypted code, so there is nothing to tie a person directly with the sample provided.

This is one of those things, where people seem to get worked up without having the facts. They're not selling your data, they make their money off of the test kits and subscription services, and if you don't want to share your results, simply change your privacy settings. It's pretty straightforward, really.

Still, I'm skeptical.

I don't trust big data.
Too much money to be made by the DNA data zillions of folks hand over to them.
As has been posted, their has been shown to be suspect anyway.

Also, I'm just not at all interested in Tico's past family.
We're born, we do stuff, we die.
If a distant ancestor was royalty in Bigwhoopmania or a bank robber in London, ho hum.
I'd rather put the money I'd be paying for that info towards my next guitar, a real thing.

But as always YMMV.
Clearly zillions love this stuff, and Facebook, and smartphones, and opium, and cigarettes, and McDonald's.
Enjoy.

[CoryB]

I used Ancestry since there are a lot of unknowns in my paternal side - my grandfather was an orphan and my grandmother was illegitimate. I haven't really made any progress on either of those, but I found a cousin I didn't know I had when she found her birth mother (my aunt.)

She was left at the hospital when she was born because my aunt was not married. The aunt went on to marry the biological father of this cousin and have three more children with him but never knew where the cousin had gone. As it turned out, they lived within 20 miles of each other by my aunt died before my cousin could meet her.

Interesting stuff and I've found a few interesting ancestors on down the line.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by TBman

That's weird Tom. Did you tell the dna service about that?

No, at that point I just felt it was a waste of time. I only did it for fun anyway and to actually see how it came out as I am as sure as I can be where I came from on both sides. I feel lucky to have had that knowledge.

I had more fun on ancestry tracing lineage. I spent the better part of 2 days confirming my Scottish heritage until records were lost around 1760 after the uprising of 1745 when the English came and pretty much destroyed the highlands and records to make a point, which they did. The records all seemed to start again around 1760, but those before then were most likely burned.

[HeyMikey]

Mine came back “Wanted in four States”.

Never in a million years would I give them my DNA. Am I paranoid? Yes, yes I am.

[Fogducker]

Many people reading this are probably in a fast food WiFi "hot spot" being filmed on security cameras, (Even our own computers have cameras) being monitored/recorded, locations via GPS on their cell phones, our fingerprints are digitized, SSN's are mandatory etc. etc. there is nothing or nowhere sacred anymore!

Somehow this DNA registry ("Confidential" of course) brings to mind the old saying;

"I'm from the government,---I'm here to help you!"

Fog

[penname]

I was dead set against getting my DNA tested due to same privacy concerns others have voiced. But a few years ago my niece got very interested in her ancestry and wanted as many of the family to get results as possible. So I (and my wife, son and his wife) all got tested through 23andMe.

The results pretty much matched what I understood of my family tree. The biggest surprise was the 1% Ashkenazi Jewish. Did not expect that at all. The Scandinavian (3.4%) was initially a surprise but I soon realized that was due to Irish ancestors that couldn’t outrun Viking raiders. My mother’s maternal side can be traced back to Georgia circa 1850’s so the 1.5% West African was not unexpected. My Mexican half is more Spanish than I expected. But overall the report appears to be accurate.

[bsman]

I was a bit disappointed; at the default confidence interval, my ancestry is listed as 99.5% Ashkenazi Jewish and 0.5% North African/Arab. I was really expecting something a bit more interesting. That's got to be the most boring profile of anybody I know...

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by bsman

I was a bit disappointed; at the default confidence interval, my ancestry is listed as 99.5% Ashkenazi Jewish and 0.5% North African/Arab. I was really expecting something a bit more interesting. That's got to be the most boring profile of anybody I know...

Well, I might have you beat.

[Pura Vida]

Haasome, WOW! Meanwhile, I'm a European mutt. Everything from Eastern Europe (43%), Germanic Europe (37%), Ireland/England (17%), and Baltic (3%).

[Mr. Jelly]

My brother had a girl friend when he was 22 and her last name popped up as a type of relative on my results. There may be more that came about from that relationship then he knows about. I don't know. The point being there is information about you and your relatives that people are becoming aware of without your involvement or knowledge. Rightly or wrongly.