Something to beware of/privacy issues

Posted: Jan 3, 2016

I have been spending the day studying. The issues of privacy and what lawyers call a "reasonable expectation of privacy" came up. A girlfriend of mine recently (just on a whim) did that thing where you can have your DNA tested by that organization called Ancestry--the purpose was to determine her ethnicity. (Her parents were both Italian immigrants and she herself was born in NYC.) Anyway, she paid about $100 and the test told her she was 70% Italian, 20% German, and 10% West Indian. The West Indian part really surprised her, and I began to wonder how accurate these tests are. As I got doing more research, I also became concerned about privacy issues. Another friend of mine (also a legal guy) was able to pull up enough information about a third friend that he could have done identity theft if he had been of a mind to do it. (He was just looking at the system and everybody involved knew he was doing it, so he was not snooping or anything like that. We were just some curious law students basically goofing off.) Because we study the right to privacy so much in the legal world, I did some research online and found this: http://blog.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/law-and-techology/ancestry-com-where-online-and-genome-privacy-issues-meet/ Frankly, it kind of scares me. I don't need a private DNA agency to tell me that I am your basic Irish background Chicago white guy; kinda boring background, really. What I do care about is how my and others' DNA information might be used in the future once it is collected. I guess I am feeling about giving out your DNA information the same way I do about giving people your General Power of Attorney: You should almost never do it, and only then with legal advice specific to your own situation. Does the risk justify doing it? Same with the DNA stuff. Where does your DNA information go? Can it be data mined by insurance companies? How is it stored? How is it protected? I am just uncomfortable with how much invasion into our privacy there is. I don't know, maybe I am just concerning myself with this instead of studying like I should be doing on this cold nasty day, but it just seems kind of concerning to me. Is anybody else concerned about the lack of privacy in America today? Maybe I should stop studying and go out for coffee or something!;