To not want my DNA on 23 and me / Ancestry etc?

[fingernails24]

I'm not sure if IABU but just have a bit of a gut feeling / dislike about the prevalence of people submitting their DNA to these "fun" sites to find out their genealogy
I understand if you're adopted or other reason to question your heritage but personally have some privacy concerns about having my DNA stored on some global database for which the privacy is not exactly clear on how it's used or shared.
I'm also a true crime fan and appreciate the strides towards cold case crime solving using these methods but still I just don't want to do this
Feels a bit "handmaids tale" in that it's sold as a fun Xmas gift and behind the scenes there is now a huge global database from which companies can track us (a bit like targeted advertising) and I don't like it
My mother in law told me I was a flat earther and I'd love to have some logical arguments/ reasons / evidence to share with her
Or happy to be told I'm being overly concerned

We had been stuck with our family history for over 50 years, unable to progress past our great grandfather, nothing tied up, dates, names, nothing.
One of the family elders did an Ancestry DNA test, from that a link to a 3rd or 4th cousin was found and having made contact with him and looking through his family tree things fell into place. Great grandfather left the army following the Boer War and lived the rest of his life under the name of another soldier.

US law enforcement used the DNA testing service of GEDMatch to catch the Golden State Killer. They submitted a sample of DNA and were able to find some distant familial matches, then built a huge family tree and identified potential suspects. Gradually they whittled it down and identified the killer.
There are a couple of documentaries about the case, it's very interesting and quite shocking the number and variety of heinous crimes he committed.

All a bit Don Draper ...

I don't think it's weird not to want to do it, any more than it's weird not to want to join Facebook or whatever.

I do think it's weird if you're telling other people that they shouldn't do it, or trying to convince them that it's all part of a big conspiracy, though.

Web of Death, episode 2
Disney plus

@RedToothBrush @OVienna Thank you for answers, totally see the points made

I am always puzzled that anyone uses these sites tbh but even more annoyed to realise how much potential there is for someone to trace you, presumably as there's now so much more linked data out there than there was when these sites first started to operate.

@KreedKafer no where did I say I was telling people not to do it - just curious about others feeling the way I do about it - and being called a flat earther by MIL for not wanting to do it !

Yes similar. Although the other soldier in our case stayed in the army as a career soldier. Great grandad moved far away so they would never cross paths.

It isn't compulsory to upload your dna onto an ancestry site. If you're uncomfortable about just don't do it!!

I don't have any logical arguments for you but I agree, it just feels off to me, I wouldn't do it. My brother in Australia did it and his results came back that he had a close relative in New Zealand, which is my cousin. There is just something too creepy about giving companies access to the kind of information that allows them to make these and other connections and insights.

Sorry to hear this, that is tough to take. xx

Of course!

annoying that others doing it can impact people so much though.

Podcast ' The Gift' (possibly bbc) has true life stories yo what has happened, been unearthed by people getting 'this gift '.
Scary stories and far reaching!

Wow...that was weird development.