See also our blog post Protecting Your Privacy on Ancestry
GEDmatch has been in the news a great deal lately. Last week, authorities in California announced the arrest of alleged serial burglar, rapist, and murderer known as the “Golden State Killer,” Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr. Officials on the case stated that investigators used GEDmatch to find the killer using genetic genealogy techniques.
Unsurprisingly, in the wake of this news, many are concerned about balancing the need to protect their privacy with the desire to take advantage of the powerful genealogical research tools GEDmatch has to offer. In this post, I will outline some of the many features GEDmatch provides that give you greater control over who sees your kit in their DNA matches. The reality is that GEDmatch offers its users more privacy options than any other major DNA website, including MyHeritage and Ancestry. It is simply a matter of taking advantage of them in a way that is right for you.
To clarify: the point of this post is not to suggest that everyone should take the following privacy steps. The goal is to allow users to be fully informed about GEDmatch privacy options.
Step 1: Using Name and Alias Fields to Protect Your GEDmatch Privacy
When you upload a DNA file, GEDmatch requests both a “Name” and an “Alias” to be associated with any kit uploaded to the site. If you include an alias, that alias is the only name other users will see next to your DNA kit. So, for example, say I put “John Smith” under “Name” and “John Doe” under “Alias” when I submit my data to GEDmatch. If I do this, other users will only see “John Doe,” and not my real name, when they see my kit in their match list.
If you are concerned about privacy, consider using an alias on GEDmatch that is not easily associable with your real name. For example, avoid using initials or a pseudonym that contains part of your actual name.
GEDmatch allows you to edit the name and alias of any of your uploaded kits at any time. To do so, simply click “EDIT or DELETE your DNA resource profiles” on your home page.
Step 2: The E-mail Field
Many people don’t think about this, but our email addresses are often easily traceable online. Sometimes we might use some portion of our name or our initials in our email address, which makes it easier to identify who it belongs to. GEDmatch lists your email address alongside your kit number when it pop up for DNA matches. Thus, for those who are concerned about privacy, it is important to use a more anonymous email address.
My suggestion would be to create an entirely new email address. Use this email for no purpose other than GEDmatch, and attach it to your DNA kit. Make this email address something that is not associated with your name or with any usernames you have used on any other websites. You can then have this email forward all incoming mail to an address that you use more regularly.
GEDmatch also allows you to change the email address associated with your kit numbers at any time. If you do so, however, you will need to create a new login under that email address.
Step 3: Public/Private/Research Options
Gedmatch offers three different privacy options:
1) Public
This is the default. It allows anyone on GEDmatch to see how much DNA data your kit shares with any other public GEDmatch kit. This setting also allows them to see where on your chromosomes that DNA data is shared. It does NOT allow anyone to see your raw DNA data, whether they share it with you or not. It only shows users manipulations of that data, such as matching segment locations, etc.
2) Private
This setting keeps your DNA kit from showing up on anyone else’s match lists. It also prevent anyone from doing one-to-one comparisons of your DNA data with any other kit’s, even if they know your kit number. This setting prevents you from using many of the GEDmatch’s powerful DNA tools, including seeing your list of DNA matches. This is a significant prohibitive cost for those who want to use the site for genealogical purposes. I do not recommend it for genealogists.
3) Research
This setting prevents your DNA kit from showing up on anyone else’s match list, while still allowing you to see your match list. It is a good compromise for those who want to see their DNA matches, but who have significant privacy concerns. If you use this option, only those who know your kit number will be able to see your DNA matches. Because of this, it is very important for users of this option, especially, not to share their kit number with anyone they do not completely trust with it.
A Note on the Research Option:
GEDmatch operates on a philosophy that encourages the free exchange of information. This is an important principle of genealogy that allows users to benefit from the sharing of information to trace their ancestors. By uploading your DNA to the site and making it public, you not only help yourself find your ancestors, but the entire pool of GEDmatch users. You also may help police investigators find a serial killer, or identify the remains of a Jane Doe murder victim, helping families know what happened to their loved one. This is all in the spirit and philosophy of GEDmatch: helping one another.
If you use the Research option, it allows you to benefit from other’s data, but it doesn’t allow others to benefit from yours. This creates an imbalance. Thus, I would recommend it for those who have privacy concerns that would prevent them from uploading to GEDmatch otherwise. In order to mend the imbalance and contribute to the community, consider donating to GEDmatch and/or purchasing their Tier 1 utilities. The site is run by a small, for-profit business aided by dedicated volunteers. Your donations are a huge help to maintaining the site and helping it remain online and free.
Step 4: Other GEDmatch Privacy Options
GEDmatch also gives you the option of joining the “SNP sharing pool”. If you have even the slightest concern about sharing DNA health data, do not join this pool. The site includes a similar warning on the site about using this feature. The default option for all uploaded kits is “no.”
GEDmatch allows you to upload a family tree. If you wish to remain as anonymous as possible, do not upload a tree.
Conclusion
Personally, kits I have uploaded to GEDmatch for my own family are public. I wish to help others as I am helped in my own research. Others, however, may have different circumstances along with different–and perfectly legitimate–privacy worries. GEDmatch is well equipped to accommodate a broad range of levels of concern. We hope that this post helps you find your right balance of privacy and genealogical need.
We at The Handwritten Past offer Professional, Genealogical analysis of DNA results from all major DNA-testing companies at hourly rates. If you need help interpreting your DNA data to solve a family history mystery, contact us at research@thehandwrittenpast.com for a free quote. Your privacy is our priority.
Don’t forget the valid reasons to use research. Research is needed for phased results or experimental raw data that are not real people. People don’t want to match to those. Also, if you’ve tested at multiple companies and want to see how they compare at GEDmatch, all but one should be research.
Great points.
1. Gedmatch does NOT offer more privacy than the DNA testing companies, and you do them no favor by such a statement. In fact, the DNA testing companies either don’t allow the upload of data by users, or allow uploads of data from other testing companies and ONLY from other testing companies.
Gedmatch allows anyone to upload almost anything as long as the file length is a certain length. This is why law enforcement could upload genetic data that was not created by a legitimate genealogical DNA testing company.
Gedmatch in fact limited data uploads to Family Tree DNA, Ancestry, and some but not all data from 23andMe, when I joined Gedmatch back in 2007, and that obviously has changed.
2. I changed all of my settings to “research”. Gedmatch has no right to moralize until they secure their database against people uploading whatever that wasn’t created by a genealogical genetic testing company. You’ve no right to moralize about it either, without that change having been made.
If I want to get my matches I can always temporarily change my settings back to public.
Ultimately, moral responsibility for Gedmatch’s viability and usefulness rests squarely with Gedmatch.
Thank you for your comment. I actually don’t say that GEDmatch offers “more privacy than the DNA testing companies.” That would be, as you say, inaccurate. What I do say is that GEDmatch offers users more privacy OPTIONS than other sites, and that is true. I see that you have taken advantage of a few of their options in a way that is right for you. That is wonderful. My hope is that everyone can find something that works for them. And, of course, if you or anyone else doesn’t want to donate to the GEDmatch site, obviously that is up to you. I share some of your concerns about the site. My goal with this post is to help inform people of their options, nothing more, with the realization that, if everyone uses the research setting and/or no one buys Tier one products or donates anything to the site, it will be rendered useless and non-existent. Presumably, if one uses the tool regularly, they see some benefit from it, and desire it to continue existing, even if perhaps in a more ideal form.
Has there been a recent change to what is accepted as a Name or Alias on GEDmatch? I’m attempting to upload a new ‘kit’ to the site and it will only accept just simple text – no numbers, dashes or periods. That is frustrating, as I’ve used those in the past to track which kit it is. Ideas?
A number of things on GEDmatch have changed since we wrote this post. It is definitely due for an update. Hadn’t heard about this simple text issue. That’s unfortunate.