Would you ever put your DNA out on the internet?

[shouldnthave]

I was reading this article about people's experiences with DNA Databases and it got me thinking.

When I was 17 my ex-girlfriend may have had my baby. She got pregnant at the very end of our relationship and with both of us being 17 her mother put the baby up for adoption. There is a whole lot more to the story, but the nut of it is that I was repeatedly told that I was not the farther of this little girl of whom I have never met. However, my two best buds at the time did meet this little girl, and both of them independently swore that her child could belong to no one other than me. Granted, in the eyes is 17yos.

I was reading that article and I thought; what if she has spent the last x years searching for her dad? If I am actually her father and I don't do it will she spend the rest of her life searching? That sounds awful, but what are the consequences to actually getting the test? Short of never doing able to live my dream of being a serial killer. I have heard that insurance companies might be able to use the info for coverage, or raising the rates for life insurance, but I don't know it that's just a rumor.

How about you kids? Have you done it? Would you do it? What do you figure the downside to be? I kind of figure 'they' will have it all soon enough if they don't already have it.

 

[Butch]

No. Good thing, and the alternatives, to think about...

 

[Kestrel]

I would never. Sad part is... even if you don't, if a close family member or cousin does, the link to you is most of the way there.

 

[shouldnthave]

I would never. Sad part is... even if you don't, if a close family member or cousin does, the link to you is most of the way there.

That's part of my thought process. Say if my sister were to do it, I'm already a made man with an email to her I guess. Part of me feels it's just postponing the inevitable at this point. I have absolutely no delusion that the root of the movie Gattaca isn't part of our future.

 

[Abacinator]

Don't most guys just put it on their keyboards?

 

[bruceflinch]

:rofl

Don't most guys just put it on their keyboards?

 

[CDONA]

Maury's show will get complicated, pin the clone baby on the daddy

 

[Caddywumpus]

I put my dna out on the internet all the time.

 

[Bay Arean]

Yes I have. And it helped a fellow BA motorcyclist find the identify of his real father, who happened to be my cousin. A year later, it happened again, where I helped a woman in Oregon discover that another cousin of mine (also a motorcyclist but long dead) was her actual father. I also found my aunt, my mother's half-sister, who I had never known but turned out to be living quite close to me. I'm going to her house this Saturday to celebrate her birthday. She is my only aunt and her daughter is my only first cousin, albeit by half. And I only met them in the last few years, because of the DNA test.

I have had nothing but good things happen as a result of DNA but we haven't reached the Brave New World part where the government/corporate state wants to liquidate me for having some undesirable medical tendency.

I think that one of the upsides of our glacial progress toward accepting diversity is that the stain of adoption, out-of-wedlock birth, etc. has diminished. If you are trying to hide something you or a family member did long ago, too bad. I do sympathize if you find out that Charlie Manson is your daddy or something, or is that one doctor that runs the sperm bank. And even though I don't think it's possible, if I have a kid out there somewhere, I will deal with the situation should it arise. Fortunately, I ain't rich so it won't involve any estate issues, and it didn't for the cases mentioned above, either.

 

[CoorsLight]

For now, the benefits are mostly enticing, but the OP brings up and interesting situation. Dunno how that may be used, whether positively or negatively.

Although I’ve read some articles about people who were traumatized by family member searches, I’ve heard only positive evaluations of ancestry.com and 23andme from people who have done it. Some of these people are fully aware that their detailed genetic information and personal histories are being sold to pharma companies and other corporations, but they are comfortable with that. For the time being, it doesn’t appear that genetic information is widely being abused, but if you want to purchase life insurance, for example, you’d better not do it. People are already being denied coverage because the life insurance companies are a major customer of both ancestry.com and 23andme.

The potential for abuse and the severity of consequences are so Orwellian that I would never do it, and I strongly urge friends and family to avoid it. Once your information is out there, you won’t be able to take it back. And people submitting their DNA to ancestry or 23andme should seriously consider the fact that they are not the primary customer. IOW the $100 fee they collect from you is a tiny fraction of the profit they make from your information.

 

[Reli]

I won't. I don't care about the positive aspects, you're giving it to a corporation, and anything goes. They will sell it, or just sell their entire business to someone else who'll sell it.

Old white men who complain about socialism and ISIS don't realize that it's corporations who are gradually taking our freedom away.....Not terrorists or democrats.

 

[CoorsLight]

I won't. I don't care about the positive aspects, you're giving it to a corporation, and anything goes. They will sell it, or just sell their entire business to someone else who'll sell it.

Old white men who complain about socialism and ISIS don't realize that it's corporations who are gradually taking our freedom away.....Not terrorists or democrats.

But a rising tide lifts all boats amirite? :ride

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I may want to commit a crime one day so no

 

[Blankpage]

They will use it to make an army if clones to do their bidding.
Or else to frame you and place you at the scene of a crime.
They being the deep state.

 

[vio]

I wonder if collecting DNA .. Like these companies do.. Is part of the genome project .. With alterior motives.. No doubt.

Isn't our dna easly collectible anyway? I would think by now there are methods to easily get dna. I've already had blood taken for testing by the hospital for a number of reasons.. I bet somewhere .. Blood is being deposited.. It's being done with other things. Like pure seeds from plants ..

Could be used to bring back species maybe.. If we collect their dna now.. Who knows.. Maybe we can keep some animals around that would otherwise go extinct.

 

[Bay Arean]

If it turns out that I am resistant to some disease and it helps to study my DNA to find a cure, well, I could live with that sharing. Even tho' I'm fat, I do come from very robust human stock, not prone to sickliness.

I frankly think that the Orwellian threat is already completed without DNA. My identity, birth info, etc. all can be changed by a click of a mouse by an oppressive government to deny me access to my money, benefits etc. DNA is almost an afterthought. Sure, I have DNA on file. But the government could just as easily substitute the kit and say I am not who I am. The nightmare is already enabled. As Hillary says, what difference does it make?

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

I wonder if collecting DNA .. Like these companies do.. Is part of the genome project .. With alterior motives.. No doubt.

.

* ulterior motive [being]
or "alternate motives". ?

** interesting: if it is a part of a genome project, THEN actually your genome might be in a disadvantage if you don't submit your DNA to the internet. Say you've been a part of a small tribe in Trancesylvania comprised of glamorous hippie giants--in that case the Internet will totally miss out on your DNA.

 

[rodr]

I'd do it if there were a good reason.

 

[NB0tt]

People have already been arrested/convicted due to DNA evidence collected from online sources. Many corporations will willingly hand it over to the police, no subpoena or warrant necessary.

 

[shouldnthave]

People have already been arrested/convicted due to DNA evidence collected from online sources. Many corporations will willingly hand it over to the police, no subpoena or warrant necessary.

I think that's how they caught the serial killer in Sacramento a few months ago. As far as I'm aware I have never committed a crime that would warrant a national DNA search, but what if someone is trying to frame me...

All interesting POV, thanks. I really do have to think deeper on the subject. Perhaps I can just get my sister to take one for the team. Haha!