At-home DNA testing company gives the FBI access to its database

ronjor · Feb 1, 2019

Mariella Moon, @mariella_moon 01 Feb 2019

Family Tree DNA says the partnership won't violate users' privacy, though.
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guest · Feb 5, 2019

DNA-Matching Company Decides To Open Its Doors To The FBI Without Bothering To Inform Its Users
February 5, 2019
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...o-fbi-without-bothering-to-inform-users.shtml

But even subpoenas aren't necessary if DNA companies decided to partner up with law enforcement by giving agencies access to their databases. That's what's happening with Family Tree, a company specializing in in-home DNA testing kits, as Salvador Hernandez reports for BuzzFeed.

It's disheartening when a private company does it, thinking it's somehow serving the public better by turning their DNA samples into investigation fodder.

While Family Tree does not have a contract with the FBI, the firm has agreed to test DNA samples and upload the profiles to its database on a case-by-case basis since last fall, a company spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
Sure, we don't expect all companies to give the government the cold shoulder, but we should at least expect them to demand a bit more from the government when it starts asking for access to millions of DNA records.

If someone objects to the FBI's access, the service is useless. And this access was put into place without customers being informed ahead of time or given an option to opt out prior to the government's access. No matter how enthused Family Tree may be about being part of the FBI's posse, this is a terrible way to treat customers who expected their personal info would be given a bit more privacy.
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mirimir · Feb 6, 2019

Well, they do argue that the FBI really has no more access than regular customers do. And that FBI agents could always pose as regular customers. And submit victims' and suspects' DNA as their own. I mean, I could easily do that. With a new persona and connection path for each sample. Anyone could, after learning some skills.

So the freaky thing is how much regular customers can do to each other, and not so much about the FBI specifically.

ronjor · Feb 6, 2019

Should Cops Use Family Tree Forensics? Maryland Isn’t So Sure

Megan Molteni 02.06.19
This powerful new method for tracking potential suspects through forests of family trees has been made possible, in part, by the booming popularity of consumer DNA tests.
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ronjor · Feb 12, 2019

More than 26 million people have taken an at-home ancestry test

by Antonio Regalado February 11, 2019
For consumers, the tests—which cost as little as $59—offer entertainment, clues to ancestry, and a chance of discovering family secrets, such as siblings you didn’t know about. But the consequences for privacy go well beyond that. As these databases grow, they have made it possible to trace the relationships between nearly all Americans, including those who never purchased a test.
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guest · Feb 25, 2019

Ancestry firms share your DNA test data more than you think
February 25, 2019
https://www.axios.com/dna-test-resu...ing-4687b1a0-f527-425c-ac51-b5288b0c0293.html

Genetic testing companies that trace customers' ancestry are amassing huge databases of DNA information, and some are sharing access with law enforcement, drug makers and app developers.
Why it matters: At-home DNA testing kits are soaring in popularity, but many consumers who took the tests to learn more about their family trees may not realize how that data is being shared for other purposes.
Reality check: Commercial DNA-testing services aren't specifically covered by federal privacy rules, such as HIPAA, because they aren't health providers or insurers.

The DNA services have grown popular without most consumers realizing that their data could be used for purposes other than genealogy, such as forensics, said Benjamin Berkman, a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, who wrote about ethical issues of using genealogy data to solve crimes in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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mirimir · Feb 26, 2019

This is like web tracking on steroids

guest · Mar 14, 2019

Family Tree DNA will let customers opt-out of the FBI's genetic data access
The decision follows major privacy backlash
March 14, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/14/family-tree-dna-opt-out-fbi-genetic-data/

Now, the gene-testing service has announced it will let customers bar law enforcement from accessing their data.
Additionally, law enforcement agencies will need to go through a "separate process" when uploading their own files to the database in search of matches, and this can only be done in an effort to identify a deceased person or suspects involved in homicide or sexual assault.

Giving customers the opportunity to opt out of giving the FBI access is an important step in defining privacy rules in this murky area, but it still puts the onus on the customer to manage their data, when some would argue the company should be protecting it by default.
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guest · Mar 28, 2019

A DNA Ancestry Website Is Asking People to Join to Help Hunt Criminals
March 27, 2019
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...-asking-people-to-join-to-help-hunt-criminals

“If you are one of the millions of people who have taken a DNA test, your help can provide the missing link,” Edward Smart, father of kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart, says in a new ad for Family Tree DNA that appears on the company’s webpage for potential customers.

In San Diego, where the Family Tree DNA ad is slated to air on television according to MIT Technology Review [...]
“The genealogy community has the ability to crowdsource crime solving,” Bennett Greenspan, president and CEO of Family Tree DNA, said of the new ad in a press release, as per MIT Technology Review.

That Family Tree DNA is riding the forensic wave to sell its product is not surprising.
What remains to be seen, however, is whether consumers will fight these dystopian outcomes. Even if you’ve already handed your DNA over to a startup, in some cases, it’s not too late to delete it.
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mirimir · Mar 28, 2019

You too can put bad relatives in jail. Huh? Really? I guess blood isn't thicker than water

guest · Apr 24, 2019

The Meteoric Rise of Family Tree Forensics to Fight Crimes
April 24, 2019
https://www.wired.com/story/the-meteoric-rise-of-family-tree-forensics-to-fight-crimes/

On April 24, 2018, officials in California arrested Joseph James DeAngelo—alleged to be the notorious Golden State Killer—after matching crime scene samples to home DNA test results his distant relatives had once uploaded to a public genealogy website.
In the year since, the method has been used to solve more than 50 additional cold cases, spawning a lucrative new forensic science industry, spurring the creation of dedicated family tree-building police units, and raising a host of genetic privacy concerns.

Before it gets to the masses though, lawmakers like Charles Sydnor III are trying to make sure the public has a frank discussion about what it means for the government to have access to consumer DNA databases filled with millions of law-abiding American citizens.
In January, he introduced a bill into the Maryland House of Delegates that would have been the first law in the country to ban police from using genetic genealogy based on concerns that it amounts to “genetic surveillance.”

Moore is keeping an eye on all these developments. But she says she has no plans to stop using genetic genealogy to solve crimes unless a law or negative court ruling forces her to.
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guest · Jun 29, 2019

Court convicts murder suspect found through a DNA database
It's believed to be the first case solved through the method that went to trial
June 29, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/29/dna-database-trial-found-guilty/

Authorities have been taking advantage of the public's ever growing interest in genetic genealogy to crack cold cases these past few years.

Now, a court has convicted William Earl Talbott II, a murder suspect who was identified through his relatives found on open DNA database GEDmatch. It's believed to be the first time a case cracked using the technique was brought to court -- and clearly, the evidence was enough to convince the jury to find him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder.
Investigators linked Talbott to the 1987 murders of Canadian couple Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg after two of his cousins (from both sides of the family) uploaded their DNA profile to GEDMatch.

According to Wired, both sides agreed to treat the DNA identification as a tip before the trial even began, and nobody questioned the method used to link Talbott to the case.
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Minimalist · Jul 3, 2019

Police and pharma companies want to get in your genes

Home genetics tests are doing a lot more than untangling family histories – they are being used to investigate crimes and create pharmaceuticals – often without the awareness of the people submitting the DNA samples.
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https://blog.avira.com/police-and-pharma-companies-want-to-get-in-your-genes/

guest · Feb 4, 2020

Ancestry says police requested access to its DNA database
The genetic analysis company says it didn't provide any customer information in response to the warrant
February 4, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/ancestry-says-police-requested-access-to-its-dna-database/

Ancestry.com received a request from law enforcement to access its genetic database in 2019, but the company said no, according to a transparency report released in late January.

The warrant, reported earlier on Monday by Buzzfeed, came from a court in Pennsylvania, but the DNA analysis company said it was improperly served. The warrant could have let law enforcement officers have access to 16 million DNA profiles from the company's customers.

"Not only will we not share customer information with law enforcement unless compelled to by valid legal process, such as a court order or search warrant, we will also always advocate for our customers' privacy and seek to narrow the scope of any compelled disclosure, or even eliminate it entirely," the spokesperson said.
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Minimalist · Feb 26, 2020

Genetic testing hampered by data privacy concerns, experts say

When it comes to sensitive data, it doesn't get much more personal than your genes. And there's now tons of genetic records stored by health care companies and consumer genetic testing companies. That's raised concerns we're at risk of a Cambridge Analytica-style event that reveals genomic data to parties who should never have gotten their hands on it.
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https://www.cnet.com/news/genetic-testing-hampered-by-data-privacy-concerns-experts-say/

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