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Lawyer's warning over family tree DNA tests

Discussion in 'DNA Questions and Answers' started by At home in NZ, Aug 25, 2020.

  1. At home in NZ

    At home in NZ Guest

    I have not gone down the DNA route, am not interested and do not understand it anyway.

    Those of you who are avid fans might be interested in this report from the NZ Herald, our daily paper.
     
    At home in NZ, Aug 25, 2020
    #1
  2. Bryman

    Bryman LostCousins Megastar

    Unfortunately, I am not allowed to read the report without a subscription for the NZ Herald even though I am located in NZ. I know that some people have experienced similar difficulties when trying to read Stuff articles when they are located in UK. Do you have any alternative suggestions for accessing the referenced report, without breaking copyright?

    I have since found similar reports in other journals but this seems to be largely scare-mongering from the Pentagon and other US military establishments, mainly in relation to medical health implications, not genealogical investigations. If anyone were to follow my ancestor trail back in time they may uncover several high ranking military officers and administrators. Could that lead to me getting job offers based on their performance in India?
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2020
    Bryman, Aug 25, 2020
    #2
  3. At home in NZ

    At home in NZ Guest

    Oh dear, I forgot it's a 'Premium' article which needs a sub. we get the hard copy every day so that's how I can access Premium content.
    I can't save or print the article, it will only show the first paragraph.
    It's in Chris Keall's twitter feed (he is the author of the article) but only has a link back to the Herald site so no joy there.
    I honestly don't know what else to do.
     
    At home in NZ, Aug 25, 2020
    #3
  4. jorghes

    jorghes LostCousins Superstar

    I'd say scan or photograph the article in the newspaper, but that probably will not be alright either!
     
    jorghes, Aug 25, 2020
    #4
  5. At home in NZ

    At home in NZ Guest

    I am probably being really naughty (smack my hand). Copied and pasted the words and left the images out, as attached.

    EDIT:
    I left the full heading out, it is:
    Lawyer's warning over family tree DNA tests as Blackstone buys Ancestry for $4.7b
     

    Attached Files:

    At home in NZ, Aug 25, 2020
    #5
  6. peter

    peter Administrator Staff Member

    Thanks for the article - it seems people will do anything to get publicity for their businesses. In this case all he's done is show up his ignorance - Ancestry has been owned by private equity companies for most of the last decade, so in that respect nothing has changed.

    Ancestry's Privacy Statement will reassure anyone who bothers to read it; Blackstone have also made it clear that they will not be sharing the DNA information of Ancestry users with other companies in their portfolio (which technically might have been allowed under the Privacy Statement). Users in the UK and EU are also protected by GDPR which imposes enormous fines for breaches - up to 10% of global turnover, if I remember rightly.

    The comment in the article about the sharing of Ancestry DNA information is also misleading. Only someone you appoint as Manager of your test has access to the raw data. Other options - Viewer and Collaborator - give no access to DNA data.

    The biggest problem for family historians is that scare stories tend to get more publicity than true stories, reducing the chance of cousins who are not family historians, and don't really understand the significance of DNA, being prepared to test. It's particularly sad when members of the oldest generation refuse to test, because up to half of their genetic inheritance is lost when they die (all of it, if they don't have children). Lost DNA is like a lost parish register - the information is almost certainly gone for ever.
     
    peter, Aug 25, 2020
    #6

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