If I were to ever use 23andme, I'd use a fake name, a disposable mailing address, a fake email address, and never, ever discuss it with anyone. That's not enou

If I were to ever use 23andme, I'd use a fake name, a disposable mailing address, a fake email address, and never, ever discuss it with anyone. That's not enough. Remember how netflix's "anonymized" data could be substantially de-anonymized by adding in IMDB's public data? http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/netflix-faq.html http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/netflix-faq.html A similar thing can be done with DNA - if your relatives have given DNA with their names and there is another database somewhere else that lists relatives (ancestry.com or pretty much any of the hundreds of data brokers) then that relatives list cross-referenced with the similarities in the DNA between you and your relatives can be used to de-anonymize your DNA. http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx If you really need a DNA profile and you are paranoid, it might make sense to pollute any databases by submitting your DNA with someone else's identity information - just don't do a criss-cross where you swap with a friend and you both submit each other's DNA because that would be really easy to reverse programmatically.