You might not be anonymous, thanks to genealogy databases

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by guest, Oct 11, 2018.

  1. guest

    guest Guest

    You might not be anonymous, thanks to genealogy databases
    May affect even those who haven't had DNA testing
    October 11, 2018

    https://www.channel3000.com/health/...ymous-thanks-to-genealogy-databases/805934668
     
  2. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Indeed. Anything like anonymity is pretty much impossible anymore in meatspace. Even if you don't pawn yourself using social media, credit/debit cards, or whatever. Pervasive video surveillance. And now this. I mean, it's hard to avoid leaving DNA wherever you go. Spit, skin, hair, etc, etc, etc.

    But on the other hand, Mirimir doesn't leave any DNA behind online :)
     
  3. guest

    guest Guest

    If you are extremely cautious about your privacy/anonymity; those around you may not and expose you anyway...
     
  4. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    I was telling friends, and family that I thought the Golden State Killer was an X-Cop, and they might be able to catch him using familial DNA. That turned out true.
     
  5. 142395

    142395 Guest

    As it has small-world property. This again poses the difficulty privacy research have been facing - combining info can produce unexpected threats. Those who collect DNA info should develop and adopt mathematically verifiable methods to guarantee certain level of privacy, but I'm skeptical how many do it (and that will make LE to search for criminals harder).
    That's really impo point often forgotten by security geeks.:thumb: In a somewhat similar vein, I love this comic.
    But the privacy and anonymity is different (tho related) idea, tho I see you know. Everyone has different idea, sense, and opinion about privacy, but not so much about anonymity. When asked to explain what the anonymity is, many ppl will be able to. But when privacy, almost all ppl fail (confirmed in my univ's class).
    Privacy is also diff from security, which often confused in security news or forums (and may lead to unproductive controversy). Privacy threats don't necessarily accompany any kind of real damage. (e.g. peeping)
     
  6. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    The UK police were busy creating a population-level DNA database using "familial matching" over 10 years ago. They knew they could not get agreement to "do" everyone, so they unlawfully retained records including witnesses, suspects, and those arrested but not charged, indefinitely. Even after a unanimous and damning judgement by the ECHR, the Home Office dragged its feet for many years and refused to destroy the records or made it request only.

    Of course, DNA records have impacts way beyond the criminal, and will lead to many difficult situations (e.g. paternity and so on). People and society are only just recognising the impacts, and for sure, the law is very poor in terms of recognising standing when it comes to indirect fingering, and what commercial companies could and should be allowed to do. But the cat is out of the bag, there is no solution from a privacy point of view.

    I find great pleasure in reading about our very mixed antecedents when it comes to interbreeding with Neanderthals, Denisovans etc.
     
  7. guest

    guest Guest

    Same as some geeks building a fortress of security to protect their datas or banking sessions, totally forgetting than the online shops storing their precious datas may have weak security...
     
  8. 142395

    142395 Guest

    Yes, but I don't feel like I have the right to laugh at them, as I once went such a way - there's a kind of gravity in security forums which drive ppl to 'security competition', until they contemplate what they need to protect from who. I won't be surprised if some ppl block web tracking w/out any valid reason, or just because "other geeks do it".
     
  9. guest

    guest Guest

    A suspected killer eluded capture for 25 years. Then investigators got his aunt’s DNA.
    February 16, 2019
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/crim...e-years-then-investigators-got-his-aunts-dna/
     
  10. guest

    guest Guest

    GEDmatch highlights security concerns of DNA comparison websites
    DNA matching can produce interesting data on family trees, but may also expose us to serious risk
    October 31, 2019

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/gedmatch-highlights-security-concerns-of-dna-comparison-websites/
    Paper: "Genotype Extraction and False Relative Attacks: Security Risks to Third-Party Genetic Genealogy Services Beyond Identity Inference"
    (PDF - 904 KB): https://dnasec.cs.washington.edu/genetic-genealogy/ney_ndss.pdf
     
  11. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    On the one hand, I have the same problem with this that most people will have. On the other, I don't mind that killers are being brought to justice. There seems to be no choice though. At some point everyone will know everything we do, for better or worse.
     
  12. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    As long as I compartmentalize meatspace from online activity, there's no DNA information to link.

    In meatspace, I'm entirely unremarkable.
     
  13. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Why a Data Breach at a Genealogy Site Has Privacy Experts Worried
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/technology/gedmatch-breach-privacy.html
     
  14. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I suspect that privacy adequate to be anonymous is no longer achievable in meatspace. DNA is just so easy to collect and check for shared markers. Indeed, even to sequence completely. It's kinda like living in prison, or more like a panopticon, but so it goes.

    So online privacy and anonymity are all we have left.
     
  15. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  16. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Among the gum trees
  17. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    The Golden State Killer: How it took four decades to catch the serial predator who terrorised California
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-22/the-forty-year-hunt-for-the-golden-state-killer/12579638
     
  18. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    Whoa, hard to believe some people can be so evil...
     
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