stuyman writes "NewScientist is reporting that anonymous sperm donation is not so anonymous anymore. An enterprising 15 year old tracked down his biological father, an anonymous sperm donor, using an online genealogy service and an online information service." DNA and Online Search Finds Birth Parent Log in/Create an Account | Top | 187 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 187 comments 0: 172 comments 1: 141 comments 2: 100 comments 3: 33 comments 4: 17 comments 5: 9 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. A potentially ugly situation (Score:4, Interesting) by treff89 (874098) on Sunday November 06, @01:27AM (#13961386) This would be quite creepy if the (father) had never actually formally donated sperm. (ie. someone has picked up a condom or tissue, and impregnated themselves with the sperm.) [ Reply to ThisRe:A potentially ugly situation by planetoid (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @01:28AMRe:Bullshit by shobadobs (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:36AM Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Funny) by RITMaloney (928883) on Sunday November 06, @04:32AM (#13961864) Why is it so important to you that your submission is the one that gets accepted?That's one of the questions on the sign-up form at the sperm bank. [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A potentially ugly situation by BHearsum (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @01:34AMRe:A potentially ugly situation by Turn-X Alphonse (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:37AMRe:A potentially ugly situation by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:34AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A potentially ugly situation by Cramer (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @06:05PMRe:A potentially ugly situation by pizzaman100 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:35AMRe:A potentially ugly situation by Nutria (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:19AMRe:A potentially ugly situation by unborn (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @01:58AMRe:A potentially ugly situation by Parham (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:22AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:A potentially ugly situation (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @02:19AM (#13961535) You know what would be creepier? Having the following conversation with the doctor from the fertility clinic and then noticing that he has the same nose as you...Boy: Doctor, you told my mother that my father was an Astrophysics major at MIT and was born on July 16, 1968. But I tracked down the only man who fits that description and he's oriental which, as you can see, I am not.Doctor: Uh, er, yes, I see... That is a problem, isn't it? There must have been some sort of mixup. Uh, what was your name again?Boy: Luke.Doctor: Well I suppose I have something I should tell you. And actually you might find this rather funny if you are a Star Wars fan. You see Luke... [ Reply to This | ParentThat's pretty close to it. by NerveGas (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:13AMRe:That's pretty close to it. by MourningBlade (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @09:15AM He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down (Score:5, Insightful) by old7 (564621) on Sunday November 06, @01:33AM (#13961406) Though his donor had been anonymous, his mother had been told the man's date and place of birth and his college degree. Using another online service, Omnitrace.com, he purchased the names of everyone that had been born in the same place on the same day. Only one man had the surname he was looking for, and within 10 days he had made contact.Knowing the place and date of birth of the father would narrow the search considerably. Even in a large city it could narrow the search to a few dozen.-Old7 [ Reply to This Re:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down (Score:5, Interesting) by Buran (150348) on Sunday November 06, @01:37AM (#13961420) (http://www.buran.org/) Not necessarily. I'm adopted and I haven't had much luck using my birth parents' names. I'm now going to have to ponder whether I want to do somemthing like this, or whether I should. I don't know yet because I have no idea whether they would want to be contacted. (They were high-school students, though, so they may wonder what happened to the baby they gave up because they couldn't raise her... so I have a chance that they'd be interested). [ Reply to This | ParentRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by saskboy (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @01:52AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:58AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Swamii (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:29AM Re:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down (Score:4, Funny) by Buran (150348) on Sunday November 06, @02:35AM (#13961577) (http://www.buran.org/) Don't count on getting your skin grafts paid for on my medical insurance! [ Reply to This | ParentRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Swamii (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:11AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:25AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by leerpm (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:25PMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:40PMNoooooo! (n/t) by henni16 (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @08:44AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by FleaPlus (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:51AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:04AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by nmb3000 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:02AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by The Madd Rapper (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:07AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Pingo (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @05:42AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:01PMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:14AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Mycroft_VIII (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @05:05AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Mycroft_VIII (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @05:14AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Amiga Trombone (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @10:50AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by pev (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @07:36PMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:05AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by QuantumG (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:30AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Buran (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:05AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by schon (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @10:41AMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by samurailynn (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:29PMRe:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down by Alsee (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @11:40AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. At long last.... (Score:5, Funny) by Altec at LM (591619) <erichgreen@co[ ]et ['x.n' in gap]> on Sunday November 06, @01:42AM (#13961432) ..an answer to the proverbial question, "Who's your daddy?" [ Reply to ThisRe:At long last.... by PetoskeyGuy (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:44AM Could lead to trouble (Score:3, Insightful) by Rethcir (680121) on Sunday November 06, @01:44AM (#13961439) 18 years, 18 years, She got one of yo kids got you for 18 years I can just picture someone tracking down an anonymous sperm donor and trying to get child support out of them. Or is this subject covered in the contract you sign at the clinic? [ Reply to ThisRe:Could lead to trouble by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:51AMhe should sue right back, but in civil court by r00t (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @04:46AMRe:Could lead to trouble by nacturation (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:33PMOoh, anecdotes! by Grendel Drago (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:13AMExcept it actually happened... by Cyno01 (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:25AMA more famous case by henni16 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:41AMThe MOTHER sued by TheConfusedOne (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:27AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Could lead to trouble by TJ_Phazerhacki (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:08AMRe:Could lead to trouble by Jeff85 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @09:08AMRe:Could lead to trouble by Surt (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @11:46AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. I wonder (Score:5, Funny) by masterpenguin (878744) on Sunday November 06, @01:44AM (#13961441) I wonder now that Anonymous Sperm Donors can be tracked down, if Anonymous Cowards can also be tracked down? [ Reply to ThisRe:I wonder by AvantLegion (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:54AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Just for that... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:01AMRe:Just for that... by C0llegeSTUDent (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:38AMRe:Just for that... by WilliamSChips (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:04PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:15AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Not just paternity (Score:1) by Stalky (31519) on Sunday November 06, @01:52AM (#13961462) (http://slashdot.org/...userinfo&nick=Stalky) As the article pointed out, this has greater ramifications than in paternity cases, though perhaps even they didn't carry it far enough."Police could perform similar searches [using crime scene evidence]to identify a criminal's surname, giving vital leads in a case."Or someone who cared enough could do so with, say, a hair found in a library book (or in any number of other places where anonymity might ordinarily have been presumed). [ Reply to ThisRe:Not just paternity by asystole (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @07:26AM Not Anymore (Score:5, Interesting) by Kawahee (901497) on Sunday November 06, @02:00AM (#13961484) (http://ensim.bkshosting.com/~admin83/lanlocked/) "NewScientist is reporting that anonymous sperm donation is not so anonymous anymore. An enterprising 15 year old..." What I'm noticing here is that these records have had to be held since around 1980... which suggests that it never really was that anonymous. I mean, back in 1990 you could still get DNA testing done (for a price). [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Informational Awareness (Score:5, Insightful) by headkase (533448) on Sunday November 06, @02:10AM (#13961511) (http://www.the-brights.net/ | Last Journal: Friday July 30, @06:03AM) You know, and I'm only speaking for myself here, if my biological offspring were with it enough to do this by themselve(s) then I would actually love to hear from them and see where it went from there. Seriously, the best complement a child can pay to a parent is being exceptionally competent within the age they live in. This kid is definately an Information Age personality. Cool kid. [ Reply to This Re:Informational Awareness (Score:4, Insightful) by QuantumG (50515) <qg@biodome.org> on Sunday November 06, @02:33AM (#13961570) (http://rtfm.insomnia.org/~qg/tcpsafe/ | Last Journal: Saturday August 27, @10:14AM) Yep, and I'm sure you'd feel really proud considering that you've had nothing to do with their upbringing and just supplied less than half of their genetic material which was mostly random anyway. But hey, don't let that stop you from taking credit from the people who did the real work of actually raising the kid. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Informational Awareness by renoX (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @03:34AMRe:Informational Awareness by bezuwork's friend (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @09:21AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Informational Awareness by FurryFeet (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @12:17PMRe:Informational Awareness by Mal-2 (Score:2) Monday November 07, @12:16AM It contacting me.... (Score:4, Interesting) by headkase (533448) on Sunday November 06, @04:04AM (#13961779) (http://www.the-brights.net/ | Last Journal: Friday July 30, @06:03AM) Another way to look at it is donors are helping someone who would otherwise not have their own child to love through a theraputic process that allows the reciever to conceive. Whether or not you agree with the ethical/legal concensus achieved so far is a different argument. Onwards, if the child feels a need to contact me in the first place because its a human and being human it may feel some qualitative feeling of comfort in meeting the next person up in it's lineage that goes back in an unbroken chain to algae give or take a billionish years ago. Your right, I would be a donor not a parent - but if the child wanted to see me I wouldn't be so callous as to not give it an audience. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:It contacting me.... by QuantumG (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:14AMRe:It contacting me.... by headkase (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:30AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Informational Awareness by DigiShaman (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:09AMRe:Informational Awareness by dasunt (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @04:18AMRe:Informational Awareness by QuantumG (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:27AMRe:Informational Awareness by MSZ (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @05:54AMRe:Informational Awareness by X-Bahamut (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:30AMRe:Informational Awareness by QuantumG (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:40AMRe:Informational Awareness by Mycroft_VIII (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @05:11AMRe:Informational Awareness by Phronesis (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:29PMRe:Informational Awareness by irtza (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:14PMCure for constipation by iagreewithmichael (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:20PMRe:Informational Awareness by dasunt (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:02PMA minor detail by Phronesis (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:37PMRe:Informational Awareness by Feanturi (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @07:35AMRe:Informational Awareness by Crag (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @09:37AMFreakonomics disagrees by honestmonkey (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:57PMRe:Informational Awareness by hackstraw (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:43AM Where to go? (Score:3, Funny) by Grendel Drago (41496) on Sunday November 06, @02:16AM (#13961526) (http://grendel.dyndns.org/) Y'know, I've been considering donating sperm, 'cause I fit a profile (I'm tall, pale and went to plenty of school). Where does one sign up to donate? Err, sell, rather. Beer money and all. [ Reply to ThisSecond. by Cyno01 (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:28AMRe: color by Patrik Arvhult (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:57AMIt's a stupid American thing. by Grendel Drago (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @12:02PMHe's typing one-handed. by Grendel Drago (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @11:56AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Jakin' for beer money! OH YEAH! (Score:3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @02:23AM (#13961541) Donors were often college students who traded their sperm for beer money. A lot more apealing than giveing blood... Get paid to jack off? Just set up a nightly pick-up route in the freshman dormatories of any college! [ Reply to This DNA (Score:1) by Osmosis_Garett (712648) on Sunday November 06, @02:33AM (#13961569) Beautiful DNA - is there anything it can't do? [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Knowing (Score:1) by AyeFly (242460) on Sunday November 06, @03:27AM (#13961676) In regards to Burens comment "I'm now going to have to ponder whether I want to do somemthing like this, or whether I should. I don't know yet because I have no idea whether they would want to be contacted."Do it, or spend the rest of your life wondering. You will always regret not taking the action, to do something that you know you should have done.Who cares if they want to know you? YOU WANT TO KNOW THEM! [ Reply to This I'd like to nominate this guy (Score:3, Funny) by accident (575230) on Sunday November 06, @03:34AM (#13961684) for hacker of the year.tres cool. [ Reply to This DNA Incrimination by Extrapolation (Score:2) by DumbSwede (521261) <slashdotbin@hotmail.com> on Sunday November 06, @03:48AM (#13961720) (http://jaytv.com/can2/larry_misc | Last Journal: Thursday June 23, @02:52PM) I submitted to AskSlashdot a piece on what I saw as the future ability of police to use this type of extrapolation to DNA finger people who aren't actually in a DNA database directly and the privacy rights implications. . The rejected submission is in my February journal entry: "DNA Incrimination by Extrapolation [slashdot.org]" [ Reply to Thisnot just police by reversible physicist (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @11:34AM Oh shit, restrictions on being born! (Score:5, Funny) by mysticwhiskey (569750) <mystic_whiskey@nosPam.hotmail.com> on Sunday November 06, @04:05AM (#13961783) I took the submission title to be "DNA and Online Search Finds Birth Patent".A case of too much Slashdot reading, methinks. [ Reply to ThisSlashdot Prank? by bigtallmofo (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:50AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. What a scare that gave me (Score:2, Funny) by Godwin O'Hitler (205945) on Sunday November 06, @04:09AM (#13961795) (http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Friday January 31, @01:00PM) How many people like me glanced quickly at that headline and saw "DNA and Online Search Finds Birth Patent"?The scariest thing is if it really had said patent I wouldn't have found it that implausible. [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Douglas Adams was a real prophet... (Score:3, Interesting) by fionbio (799217) on Sunday November 06, @04:51AM (#13961902) First something quite like original [wikipedia.org] Babel fish [slashdot.org], then these singing mice [slashdot.org], and now tracking down anonymous fathers. Well, what Arthur Dent donated was just his DNA, but similiarity is striking, isn't it? [ Reply to This Had to read the headline twice (Score:2) by Daath (225404) <lpNO@SPAMcoder.dk> on Sunday November 06, @07:05AM (#13962194) (http://coder.dk/ | Last Journal: Sunday March 31, @12:23AM) I had to read the headline twice. The first time it didn't make much sense to me, as I read, "DNA and Online Search Finds Birth Planet" :PI thought, uhm why? I, for one, am fairly sure I was born here on earth. [ Reply to This Now it's time... (Score:1) by Chas (5144) <`ten.tenlive' `ta' `sahc'> on Sunday November 06, @07:26AM (#13962243) (http://www.evilnet.net | Last Journal: Saturday September 28, @09:08PM) To start using better encryption on your spooge.The standard 46 character, trinary variable encoding is kinda weak.... [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. College papers (Score:1) by andrewman327 (635952) <SocialConservative@Gmail.com> on Sunday November 06, @11:06AM (#13962978) I am a reporter for the George Washington University Hatchet. In every issue we run several ads for sperm banks and egg donations. a recent article by a fellow writer addressed this [gwhatchet.com]. I know that some people may not want to meet their offspring in 15 years, after they've settled down with a spuse and started a family of their own. [ Reply to ThisRe:College papers by pev (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @08:13PMRe:College papers by andrewman327 (Score:1) Monday November 07, @12:14AM Why are men always the bad guy? (Score:1) by psyon1 (572136) on Sunday November 06, @11:32AM (#13963115) (http://www.psyon.org/) Women donate eggs to other women/couples. What if a child found out they were from a donated egg? Is the woman that gave up the egg also an evil person who, as some posters have implied, gave up a child for beer money?I think in the case of egg and sperm donation, a background check should be done before the people dontate, once the donation is given, NO identifiable data should be linked to it. Keep record of the race of the person, their education, and maybe some other general points to help a person choose good seed, but no names and no birth dates. [ Reply to ThisRe:No identifable data? by McGiraf (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @12:19PMRe:No identifable data? by psyon1 (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:42PM I guess this redefines the term.... (Score:2) by 8127972 (73495) on Sunday November 06, @02:42PM (#13964095) .... Who's your daddy? [ Reply to This Uh Oh! (Score:2) by Spackler (223562) on Sunday November 06, @03:30PM (#13964420) (Last Journal: Thursday July 03, @12:36PM)