The New York Times has a rather disturbing story about genealogy. It describes many people who surreptitiously obtain DNA samples in order to prove ancestry. According to the article by Amy Harmon, "They swab the cheeks of strangers and pluck hairs from corpses. They travel hundreds of miles to entice their suspects with an old photograph, or sometimes a free drink. Cooperation is preferred, but not necessarily required to achieve their ends."
One "genealogist" describes staking out a McDonald's. The man she believed was the last male descendant of her great-great-great grandfather's brother had refused to give her his DNA. So she decided to get it another way. "I was going to take his coffee cup out of the garbage can. I was willing to do whatever it took."
More publicity like this about a few radicals is going to give genealogy a black eye. I'd suggest that every genealogist read the story at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/us/02dna.html?hp.
NOTE: The New York Times often moves stories off its web site within a very few days after publication. This story probably will not remain online very long.
