FamilyTreeDNA has introduced 3 levels of privacy that individual testers (kit owners / administrators) can give to each individual project administrator in each individual project. These levels are:
- Group Project Access Only (new)
- Grant Limited Access (historic default)
- Grant Full Access (historic special)
Members of projects we manage must, at minimum, give "Grant Limited Access" to each administrator in the project. Those that leave it as "Group Project Access Only" risk being removed from the FTDNA project.
We should note that none of the projects we manage have ever allowed the yDNA results to be public to non-members. Second, even to members, we only allow the EKA ancestor to be displayed with each result. Kit numbers and last names of testers have always been hidden from other members / testers. Furthermore this applies to yDNA. We do not support, show nor track any mtDNA test results except to advise individual members on how best to utilize their DNA testing to gain genealogical value. Finally, autosomal analysis is handled completely outside FTDNA (except to the extent an administrator assists a member with interpreting their FamilyFinder match list). Even GEDMatch kit numbers are hidden from the public and generally only available to need-to-know members. The idea is, if you have skin in the game and a match with a member in the project, you information is available to you and your matches that are members. Something that would be the case anyway from the traditional match list. Hence, we foster documenting collaboration that is occurring naturally via email and similar interaction.
As FTDNA only really supports group match analysis of yDNA results, it has always been an oddity to accept autosomal only testers into the FTDNA project. We gladly work with them outside in the main project where autosomal studies are more directly supported. Going forward, we are going to likely limit or eliminate all autosomal-only test members of any FTDNA project we manage. Until this is more thoroughly vetted, we have removed group member access to yDNA results. Only the administrators can see the result charts now.
How to change the permission level for an administrator
TBDGroup Project Access Only
This access is the minimal and default permission now. Nothing like it existed before.. It allows a project member to see project member limited access information only. Usually, the Y DNA results table and group member list. But does not give any access to the account by group administrators. Thus, they cannot see what tests were taken, your profile information such as your email, or your match lists. Without this information, the group administrators have limited ability to help you manage your process. They can possibly place you in the Y DNA results table but that is it.Family Finder (Autosomal) test members of projects have always been an issue. There is very limited benefit to being an autosomal member of a FamilyTreeDNA project; as well as limited benefit or tools the administrator has to such members. Without access to even a members email; nor their match list, there is now zero benefit to the project if this permission level is set. A member with only an autosomal test does still benefit with "members access" to the project though. As a result of the lack of monitoring, control or even basic understanding of who such members are, all our projects will be dropping such members unless they increase their permission and more clearly identify who they are and why they are there. In the interim, we have removed Y DNA results access to members until the member lists are cleaned up. Most projects had restricted joins and such vetting occurred before an autosomal member could join. Or we simply rejected any autosomal-only member joins. But this will now be more formally looked at and handled in every project.
Grant Limited Access
This permission allows a project administrator to access a members profile in a manner similar to how a user does via their MyFTNDA home page. The big difference is (a) most profile information is read-only and (b) the links into joined groups are not available. In the past, a project administrator could click on a group link in a members profile page and enter that group as if logged in as that member. No longer.We have and will continue to require Limited Access (minimum) for any member of a project. Any member not providing this to the group administrators will be removed from the project.
Grant Full Access
This permission was historically given to an administrator by providing your kit password. The administrator could then enter that password into their account profile and access your kit via the project as if logged in as you. This is now set and removed via the permission mechanism described here. So you no longer have to give out your password. Nor provide it again if changed. As part of the change though, even with Full Access, a group administrator cannot follow a group link from the MyFTDNA page into a group a kit is a member of. This has been removed from all but the direct login of the kit. Second, changing a kit password does not remove the administrators access to edit the kit. You must now remove the permission. Needless to say, even with Full Access, an administrator cannot change the permission given to them by the kit.Full Access is generally used by project admins when they are administering kits of relatives they had tested. Also, for kits of invited testers who have no interest in the testing results or process. Finally, sometimes it is used for kits where the tester has passed away and there is no one in the immediate family with an interest to maintain the oversight.
This is not Full Access as before though. You still need the kit ID and password to login directly to the kit to change many items in the profile and follow group links as if a member of that group.