3 ms·
And what would that gain them? "X and Y had a son"?
by phyzome 1y ago
And what would that gain them? "X and Y had a son"?
- ImPostingOnHN 1y agoThey know who X and Y are, and also know the identity of their son (you), so that gains them your unique DNA sequence, identified as yours specifically.
- phyzome 1y agoYeah, I think you're missing the whole point of the "anonymously" part. :-)
- ImPostingOnHN 1y agoHow do you plan to do it anonymously, considering what you now know?: 1. There are already multiple database containing both your parents, you, and a linkage between you and them indicating parentage. So, prior knowledge: Alice and Bob are parents of Charlie. 2. If Charlie's parents have taken a DNA test, there already exists a database linking their DNA to their name. So, prior knowledge: Alice's DNA belongs to Alice, Bob's DNA belongs to Bob. 3. If Charlie takes a DNA test totally anonymously and perfectly untraceably, it will still show up as, child of Alice and Bob's DNA. So, knowledge now includes: Charlie's (anonymous) DNA is the son of Alice and Bob's DNA 4. From these pieces of information, it is trivial to de-anonymize Charlie's DNA, linking it to Charlie's identity: the only person it could belong to is the son of Alice and Bob, and the son of Alice and Bob is already known from point 1.
- phyzome 1y agoAh, I see what you're saying! I think in my case I'm just not that concerned by the hypothetical because my parents haven't done sequencing/genetic screening and also aren't likely to. I guess the main question is how far out in my family tree I have to think about that. (Also has implications for my descendants, I suppose...)