When I signed up for 23andme many years ago, it was via a friend in another country, who re-mailed it for me under a fake name and paid in cash. For some time I would log in through a locale-specific 23andme sub-domain until they eventually merged it all together.
It wasn't long before they figured out who I was and placed me within my family tree. My fake name now lives among near and distant relatives I was not aware had signed up themselves or their parents/grandparents. They know who I am, who my siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles are, etc. This was always going to happen as soon as I sent them my sample.
I never believed my anonymity trick would truly work, I just wanted to make it sufficiently difficult for when 23andme inevitably sold out, got gobbled up, or turned evil. I learned what I wanted from the service, and have only logged in once a year or so since to see if they updated any findings or disease studies.
While I truly appreciate the concept of bringing privacy and anonymity to this field, it's worth considering we are all quite easy to identify using these samples.
It wasn't long before they figured out who I was and placed me within my family tree. My fake name now lives among near and distant relatives I was not aware had signed up themselves or their parents/grandparents. They know who I am, who my siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles are, etc. This was always going to happen as soon as I sent them my sample.
I never believed my anonymity trick would truly work, I just wanted to make it sufficiently difficult for when 23andme inevitably sold out, got gobbled up, or turned evil. I learned what I wanted from the service, and have only logged in once a year or so since to see if they updated any findings or disease studies.
While I truly appreciate the concept of bringing privacy and anonymity to this field, it's worth considering we are all quite easy to identify using these samples.