Team Liddell et al: Protecting Your Identity

In the beginning, when we first began studying the use of Genealogy Genetics and decided on FamilyTreeDNA to be our testing service, the Team decided we would never identify a participant in our Study by anything other than a kit number.

We have had to modify that strategy very slightly because we have discovered that some modern Liddells used other spelling forms a century or more ago and that the modern Liddells of this type presently in our Study are totally unrelated to the lines that have consistently used the Liddell spelling from the earliest records back in the United Kingdom--mostly Scotland.

So we have to distinguish among the lines by using surnames ONLY in order to discuss the aggregate of the reports and to interpret what they mean. An example of how we handle it now and will into the future is: Kit Number 34228--Lidell/Liddle/Liddell, or Kit Number 28451-Liddell to show the history of the test participant's surnames. Again, that's as far as we will ever take it in using an actual name under the modified approach we had to adopt four months ago following the first set of lab reports and the realization then for the first time in history that not all Liddells are related, even distantly, no matter how far back the records might be taken.

Secondly, the only place a participant's complete name is revealed in conjunction with a particular kit number is in FTDNA's very secure computer and in the report I receive as the Study administrator when test results are reported at the end of the lab work, with an identical copy going to the test participant.

The two reports work this way. I and the participant each receive a notification that the results have been posted to (1) the Team's special administrator page, which I can see and you can't because all the other test participants are listed there, and you are not allowed to see that, and (2) the participant's special personal page, which you can see and I can't. (Even though the two reports are the same.) FTDNA does not send this information out in an email, which might be read by a wife or other relative, an office manager or a secretary. Instead, each of the two pages just described are both accessible only by a code, and totally invisible to search engines.

One other thing could arise but it is totally dependant on the participant's own voluntary action. FTDNA provides a "comparison board" for others to search for unusual DNA readings that might mean kinships between the searcher and one or more of those who instructed FTDNA to post their results on the board. But even here, only the kit number is used. I do expect you to sign the "Release Form" that comes in the test kit because I otherwise will not receive your test results--and that removes all worth of your being tested as far as the Team is concerned. But even though you have signed the form, it is still solely your decision to elect to have your test results shown by kit number only on the board where others who have been tested can see the results and the kit number and asked to be placed in contact with one of interest to them. The one of interest is contacted by FTDNA and ONLY if the participant is willing to be contacted is the email address then provided by FTDNA.

Additionally, and as an additional assurance to its clients, FTDNA has in place a complex of legal protections for its test participants just to guard against any possible future difficulties and will vigorously defend their privacy and security against all comers.

Finally, the lab work is performed at the University of Arizona under the supervision of the genealogy genetics faculty, of which three are leading scholars in this new field. They have professional reputations to protect and are on constant guard to insure that there is nothing amiss in the lab work. Also, all they know are the kit numbers. No names are ever provided to them.

2. The test results are totally worthless to law enforcement and the legal system

Genealogy genetics uses only 37 "markers" on the male sex chromosome and another very limited number on the female one. There are thousands more, though, you see. The 37 were selected by scientists because of their fairly rapid mutation rates over the centuries, while all the others are totally ignored during the lab work. Because of this highly limited marker array used in the lab work and reported out from that, a test report cannot be used to identify a specific individual during a criminal investigation OR to establish specific fatherhood during a paternity suit.

All that genealogy genetics reports can indicate is whether or not the test subject is related to another male and how closely by estimating the range of years during an Most Recent Common Ancestor lived. This is good enough for genealogy but that's the limit that the lab work can provide.

3. FamilyTreeDNA is the world foremost leader in Genealogy Genetics and has a sterling reputation

FTDNA handles about 90 percent of the world's genealogy genetics testing and was chosen only within the past month (May 2005) to handle the entire testing and lab work for the National Geographic Society in its five-year "Origins of Mankind" Genographic Study recently announced. Additonally, I have dealt with FTDNA executives and staff now for nearly a year and have found all them to be highly professional and alert to the needs and concerns of the test subjects.

In this brief paper, I have avoided almost all of the "how does genetics work" questions (there are other essays posted at this website to handle this subject) and have concentrated solely as best I can on the areas I know to be of concern to a person looking at genealogy genetic testing for the first time.

Please read anything you wish and download even if you aren't a member of our Team and do this with our blessings. Remember, we are still primarily a genealogy roundtable and not a genetics-only group. AND, also remember that our membership is open to ALL the Liddesdale-derived variant surnames, and not just Liddell alone.

James Wallace (Jim) Liddell

Facilitator

teamliddell@yahoo.com

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