DNA Testing Company Caught Working With The FBI

Source: YouTube

Yesterday someone sent me a video by the YouTube channel The Young Turks called DNA Testing Company Caught Working With The FBI:

If this is true then Family Tree DNA lied to me and others, I had my genealogical autosomal DNA test done by Family Tree DNA specifically because they had the best privacy policy out of the big three genealogical DNA testing companies and I wanted to reduce the risk of something like this happening, and so I took a risk finally and I chose them over possibly better options because of their supposed better protections of our DNA / data.

If you are curious here were my results in a post called: John Jr’s Family Tree DNA Family Finder Genealogical DNA Test Results 😲.

Last year I heard about law enforcement using DNA data from one or more DNA testing companies, two of the other big three DNA testing companies claimed to not be involved, but I never heard anyone mention Family Tree DNA so I hoped that they were not involved in that; but if this is true then we were betrayed, and I am not happy about this at all.

If this is true then Family Tree DNA has lost me as a customer over this betrayal, I was cautious and worried about something like this possibly happening so that is why I waited so long before finally taking a risk and trying a DNA test, and I did some research before finally choosing the company with the best privacy policy only to have something like this happen to me.

Thank you The Young Turks for bringing this to our attention.

*Update*

Family Tree DNA released an oddly titled press release about this issue called PRESS RELEASE: CONNECTING FAMILIES AND SAVING LIVES.

If what they are saying is true then the situation is not as bad as reported, but I still have questions and concerns about this situation.

-John Jr

John Jr Does The Family Tree DNA Family Finder Genealogical DNA Test

Source: YouTube

Recently the Family Tree DNA Family Finder (autosomal DNA test) genealogical DNA test that I ordered online for $69 during their Friends & Family Summer Sale for the entire month of August 2017 arrived by mail.

I found out about the sale thanks to a post by Roberta Estes called Friends And Family Summer Sale At Family Tree DNA, I had been waiting for a sale so that I could buy the Family Finder test, and so thank you Roberta Estes for sharing that post.

The instructions to complete the kit had a link to a YouTube video by Brad Larkin for video instructions to go along with the text and image instructions, it linked to one of his old videos from when the kit used a different kind of swab, but fortunately Mr. Larkin had a link to his new video called How To Take A Family Tree DNA Test (Snap-Swab Version) that was about using the new kit with the new swab:

Family Tree DNA should update their instructions to link to his newer video instead of the old video now that they use new swabs, but I am glad that they shared a link to video instructions for those of us who prefer a video over text and images.

I am also glad that Mr. Larkin made both of those videos, and so thank you Mr. Larkin for sharing them.

Today I followed the instructions to complete the kit and the prepaid mailing package went to my local post office, and so soon they will ship it back to Family Tree DNA to be tested and one day I will get my results and I will probably share my results on my blog.

This should be interesting. 😀

*Update*

I got my test results, and I made about post about my test results called: John Jr’s Family Tree DNA Family Finder Genealogical DNA Test Results .

The end,

-John Jr