Privacy concerns over the use of genealogical databases

DNA can help you build your family tree, find out where your relatives came from, find a parent you’ve been searching for (or a sibling or distant relatives you may not have been searching for).

DNA used to be for forensic scientists and investigators. It can exonerate someone wrongfully convicted of a crime decades ago, and it can lead to the capture of others who evaded capture for decades.

But now DNA, in the form of 23andMe or Ancestry.com or others, is perhaps a Christmas present or novelty among family and friends. That’s leading to a lot of discussion about how we should be handling all this unique and important information, and the ethics thereof.