Privacy lawyer and Netsafe chair Rick Shera says people should think twice before providing their DNA to "gimmick" sites which provide ancestry information.
The warning comes after police in the US revealed they used a DNA database gathered from such sites to track down a serial killer through the DNA of one of his relatives.
Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast programme, Mr Shera said DNA is the ultimate identifier of a person's identity, and it should be given out only carefully and mindfully.
Things like the Facebook Cambridge Analytica issues have made people more aware of their online privacy, Mr Shera said, and for good reason.
"Once your DNA's gone, you can't get it back," Mr Shera said.
"DNA being the thing you can't change ... once it's gone and out there in someone else's organisation, it's gone."
Mr Shera said people who had already used such sites could ask the organisation to remove their data, saying "that may be the protection you need at the moment".
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