My aunt talked my dad into doing this along with a cousin. As dad did not have an e-mail address, all the responses from the company came to me. They used 23andMe. There were not any surprises in his profile. He received numerous e-mails stating they had found relatives. You could decide whether or not to allow contact from them. There were numerous quizzes that they wanted dad to take, such as eye color, height, right-or-left handed, etc. If you took all of these, they would have significant amounts of personal information. I did not like that I kept getting updates on the Privacy Policy. Each change made it seem a little less secure. Also, 23andMe was purchased (I forget who and the details), but something about the change made me wonder how much information was being shared. I asked for no more contact upon his death.
A lot of people use these services. However, I am not yet 65. I would not do this until my health insurance is guaranteed through Medicare. Alzheimer's and diabetes run in the family, and while I do not have either (yet, and hopefully never), I have to wonder about an insurance company learning about potential markers somehow. I am younger than my husband and will have to find insurance on the open market after his retirement until I turn 65.
This information is three years old.
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