Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post; A woman says an Ancestry.com DNA test revealed her father — her parents’ fertility doctor
[Kip Currier: I've been lecturing on some of the upshots and the downsides of DNA testing the past few years in my Information Ethics course and for guest talks in a colleague's Research Data Management (RDM) course. Advertising for DNA testing has exploded this past year on television and radio. These ads, in my view, are very irresponsible in presenting DNA tests as utterly carefree and adventurous (connect with your ancestral homelands! find out the history of your long-lost ancestors!), without adequately alerting people to the very significant, potentially harmful aspects they can present.
This article is one cautionary tale about unexpected consequences of DNA tests.]
"After news of the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for Ancestry.com said in a statement Tuesday that DNA testing “helps people make new and powerful discoveries about their family history and identity.
“We are committed to delivering the most accurate results, however with this, people may learn of unexpected connections,” it read. “With Ancestry, customers maintain ownership and control over their DNA data. Anyone who takes a test can change their DNA matching settings at any time, meaning that if they opt out, their profile and relationship will not be visible to other customers.”
Since the situation came to light, Rowlette and her parents have been “suffering immeasurably,” the lawsuit says."
Issues and developments related to ethics, information, and technologies, examined in the ethics and intellectual property graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. My Bloomsbury book "Ethics, Information, and Technology" will be published in Summer 2025. Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Showing posts with label unintended consequences of DNA testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unintended consequences of DNA testing. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Friday, July 28, 2017
WHO WAS SHE? A DNA TEST ONLY OPENED NEW MYSTERIES. How Alice Collins Plebuch's foray into “recreational genomics” upended a family tree.; Washington Post, July 27, 2017
Libby Copeland, Washington Post; WHO WAS SHE? A DNA TEST ONLY OPENED NEW MYSTERIES. How Alice Collins Plebuch's foray into “recreational genomics” upended a family tree
"The dystopian novelist Margaret Atwood is fond of saying that all new technologies have a good side, a bad side, and a “stupid side you hadn’t considered.” Doing DNA testing for fun can carry consequences few of us might anticipate. It requires little investment at the outset, but it has the potential to utterly change our lives."
"The dystopian novelist Margaret Atwood is fond of saying that all new technologies have a good side, a bad side, and a “stupid side you hadn’t considered.” Doing DNA testing for fun can carry consequences few of us might anticipate. It requires little investment at the outset, but it has the potential to utterly change our lives."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)