Yeah. I'm more wondering about the general case, though.
If I were an insurance company, what's to stop me from hiring investigators to go through customers' garbage to find their DNA, analyze it, and then take "appropriate" action?
Genealogy sites have no way of confirming the DNA submitted belongs to the person submitting it. Trash left on the street is considered abandoned property, so fair game for identity thieves and insurers alike. However, unless you know the person lives alone and has had no other guests between trash pickups, you can't be sure the garbage DNA is theirs. More likely an insurer might try to get a sample during a house visit or, stalking out the target at a cafe, or a hairdresser appointment, you name it. Life insurance companies can come to your house and get your EKG already, a swab would be easy.
>Trash left on the street is considered abandoned property.
I wouldn't be so sure of that interpretation. In most places that I've lived, you could be arrested for taking things out of the trash, whether in front of your house, or even if dumped on the side of the road.
> If I were an insurance company, what's to stop me from hiring investigators to go through customers' garbage to find their DNA, analyze it, and then take "appropriate" action?
Laws against discrimination, such as those for both genetic information and pre-existing conditions that already apply to health insurance in the US. Even if nothing stops you from getting the information, you are prohibited from using it.
If you were an insurance company, what's to stop you from hiring investigators to tail a customer and figure out how many times per week they stop at McDonald's for breakfast?
If I were an insurance company, what's to stop me from hiring investigators to go through customers' garbage to find their DNA, analyze it, and then take "appropriate" action?