This blog is a random collection of information, partly in support of my quotations web site. Other topics include wine, military news, economics, history, libertarianism, and other random things which happen to strike my fancy. Backup site is at http://quotulatiousness.blogspot.com/ (if there are no posts showing, hit the backup blog for explanation). Comments have been turned off, as the spam was getting too much to handle. Comments can be emailed to me for posting.

June 19, 2007

DNA testing and Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com recently announced they will be adding an inexpensive (at least compared to what it used to cost) DNA testing kit to their line-up of products and services for genealogical researchers. Slashdot thread here:

Daniel Dvorkin: Here's the worry, I think: law enforcement agencies could take a crime scene sample, run it against the entire Ancestry.com database, and decide that whoever comes up with the closest match must have done it. And in the current climate, they might well make it stick, even if the crime involves ... [gasp] pedophilia ... or [shock] terrorism ... or [falls over dead from the horror of it] record piracy.

east coast: I hate the relatives I have. Why would I want to find out that I have more?

laron: This is going to be interesting. Doctors calculate that about 5-10% of all children have a different biological father than they (and their "social" fathers) think.

Posted by Nicholas at June 19, 2007 02:29 PM
Comments


Visitors since 17 August, 2004