On Dec 9, 4:13 pm, Huntersglenn <huntersgl...@cox.net> wrote: > singhals wrote: > > > But then, OTOH --? If you're worried that somehow someway these results > > can be subpoenaed for any reason (criminal or insurance), best the > > testing company DOESN'T keep them more than 30 days. > > > Against better testing coming along, surely putting strands of hair or > > nail clippings or licked envelopes into the Zip-locs (TM) with notes on > > source and date and then putting those baggies into your bank box works > > just as well and it's under YOUR control. > > > Cheryl > > A valid point...but...the likelihood of the government or an insurance > company knowing about the DNA genealogy testing isn't all that great. > IF either entity wanted my DNA that badly, they'd most likely opt to get > it directly from me, or from my house, or my doctor. If it was for > something criminal, then they'd most likely find out about the bank box, > and get a search warrant for that, so they'd have anything kept there. > > Some of the testing companies also allow you to test without revealing > your name, or address, so you've got a pretty good privacy curtain going > on there. Which cannot be said for visits to your primary care > physician - the insurance company can get your records from him/her at > any time, and often without having to get your permission (in many > instances, that written permission was given when you filled out your > paperwork for your medical or life insurance policy and also when you > filled out paperwork at the doctor). > > If I had to choose between using a few strands of my daddy's hair from > when he was still alive in 1991 with having a DNA sample from his mouth, > I'd go for the mouth swab, especially since it will have been kept in a > much better environment than the hair strands in a plastic baggie > (theoretically, anyway). > > A far more serious potential breach of privacy would be the introduction > of home do-it-yourself paternity DNA testing kits - they're already > being marketed on the west coast - get the kid's DNA sample, the > mother's DNA sample and the suspected father/not father's DNA sample and > mail it in with a check, and voila! > > So, another thing to maybe look at when deciding on a testing service is > their privacy guarantees, and can you be anonymously tested if you so > desire? If this isn't something that the OP is worried about, then it's > definitely something that someone else might worry over, and would find > helpful to ask when searching for a testing service. > > Cathy True Cathy - no photo ID is required :) surname project participants can be and usually are anonymous to people [at least] outside of the individual project ... really the identity of the testing participant is not mandatory to be known, just that the person who supplied the test sample is in fact, of the purported lineage that is being researched :) that's what the testing is actually all about :) on the topic of paternity testing :) although this sort of testing for "genetic genealogy" isn't typically used for paternity testing ... I usually suggest that father-son pairs DO NOT be tested within a surname project "publicly" ... as a mis-match of just a handful of markers in their haplotypes, WILL be a shocking indication to some, of an NPE issue [non-paternal-event], i.e. daddy is not the biological father, if not already known and/or suspected "/ when an issue like this, comes up between distant cousins it usually not so hard to swallow, as it is when it's a next of kin relationship ... Ken - hdpth-DNA a co-founder of ISOGG www.isogg.org the International Society of Genetic Genealogy .