[ExI] 23andme again

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Tue Jun 25 23:57:42 UTC 2013


I'd say reveal.  As you say, she
arguably had a right to it.  Whether
or not she is capable of obtaining
the info on her own (and she may
well learn), she may have others
who can get it.  Further, who
exactly would you be protecting
(of those entitled to said
protection)?

You may wish to guide her
through how to get the info,
telling her she needs to learn how
to do this as part of handling this
info responsibly.  But if you do, do
let her know up front that the info is
available, and that you're being
roundabout only out of pure ethical
concerns.
On Jun 25, 2013 4:22 PM, "spike" <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

> ** **
>
> Zowwie, 23andMe has put me into a hell of an ethical dilemma, or perhaps
> more accurately, I have put myself in an ethical dilemma.  Advice or
> comment from ethical hipsters most welcome.****
>
> ** **
>
> Background:  inside of two weeks, I have discovered a second illegitimacy
> in my own ancestry.  We knew from family tradition that one of our great
> great grandfathers was an illegitimate born in about 1855, so that branch
> of the tree came to an end, and has been a dead end for over a century: no
> one knew who his bio father was.  I compared notes with a 23andMe cousin,
> and between us we figured out the likely candidate.  Hey, it was 1855, in a
> town three hours from anything, with a total population of 200 people.  In
> those kinds of places, after dark there is nothing to do.  I was delighted
> to know this of course, and to be the first in the family to discover it.*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> Yesterday, a young lady contacted me because I was on her list of 3rd or 4
> th cousins from 23andMe.  She didn’t know how to use any of the software
> tools in that, but suggested we share genomes, which I did.  She revealed
> that she was an illegitimate child raised by a stepfather She commented
> that she wanted to find her bio-father but didn’t know where or how to do
> those kinds of searches and couldn’t afford a professional, and that the
> only thing she knew about her bio father was all her mother would tell:
> first name, middle initial and last name, which isn’t much.  But it is an
> unusual last name, and it matched one of the oddball names in my 23andMe
> list.****
>
> ** **
>
> This young lady is clearly unsophisticated, as is easy to tell from her
> post.  Less than an hour of searching through Facebook pages, genealogy
> sites and Spokeo, I figured out who is the likely father, and that he lives
> not all that far from this third cousin.****
>
> ** **
>
> Ethical dilemma: do I tell her?  ****
>
> ** **
>
> My ethics intuition suggests that I refrain from mentioning even that I
> have that info.  Unless someone comes up with an argument to the contrary,
> good chance I will stifle it.  Principle: don’t reveal information against
> someone else’s will.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> But what if it contradicts the will of a third party who may be morally
> entitled to that information?****
>
> ** **
>
> Is it clear now that 23andMe will lead to tall piles of these kinds of
> moral dilemmas, and people’s reaction to them will be all over the map.  I
> don’t feel very comfortable with either of my choices in this case.****
>
> ** **
>
> Gina Nanogirl Miller, comments please?  Max and the ethics hipsters,
> comments please?  What would Anders do?****
>
> ** **
>
> spike****
>
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