The "Do You Know Who Has Your DNA?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the fellow in California known as the Golden State Killer as well as the East Area Rapist.  They found him by linking a sample of his DNA they had obtained at a crime scene back in the 1970s and feeding those results into a free, open access data-base called GEDmatch which is based in Florida.  Results showed a match to a relative of the killer that they then used to find the guy who happened to be in California during the years of the murders and rapes.  Fellow is now 72 years old and a former police officer who committed the crimes while he was a policeman.  A week or so ago I posted a story about using AncestryDNA to find information about my background and what year my relatives may have come to the United States.  Did this by sending my saliva to AncestryDNA, waiting forever, and finally receiving the results which I was disappointed in after seeing them.  But, I didn't realize that perhaps anyone can now also access my DNA.  Not sure I like that idea.  Not because I killed people in my youth, but I really don't want anyone else to have access to my records unless I say so.  So just how private are my results.  Can Ancestry DNA share them with the world?  Did I sign something that I'm not aware of giving them the right to place my results in a national or even universal database for all to access?  And if I did, how can I change all that?  What did we do before we had digital knowledge as we do in today's world?  With a push of a computer button you might be able to see if I may be a distant relative who may have won the lottery and be worth millions or may also have been a serial killer.  Not only that, but you may be able to find my credit card number or even my Social Security Number.  A privacy lawyer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania says consumers take a risk entering their genetic data into commercial testing services such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA.  They take an even greater chance using an open-access database such as GEDmatch.  What worries me just as much as discovering my SS# or my Credit Card #s is finding out about my medical problems.  Could someone be denied insurance if their insurance company does a search and finds you have a specific gene that makes you more susceptible to cancer or heart disease.  Public hospitals that do blood testing and find you have a gene mutation that could be dangerous are not allowed to give that information out unless you say it is OK.  But there are private testing companies that you might use that aren't under the same restrictions as public hospitals.  Same thing goes for the DNA testing.  So what can you do?  I guess don't be tested or submit your saliva as I did.  I did read in the information that came with my AncestryDNA kit that when I send my saliva to them, they may use those test results with research partners to better find matches for me.  But that material is also subject to hackers who can steal all of it if they care.  For me it's too late, but make sure you know what can happen if you too try one of these ancestry services.  Can it lead to something more than you might want?  It did for the Golden State Killer!  It was another extraordinay day in the life of an ordinary guy.