Genealogy Websites Were Key To Big Break In Golden State Killer Case

Will be interesting to see the ramifications of this. I'm no lawyer, but something doesn't sound right. You can find a partial DNA match on a distant relative, who may not live anywhere near the suspect and doesn't even know he exists. And then with some family tree traversing and some basic cross-referencing police work, you can find your perp.

Question is whether a genalogy website(s) actually gave access to the police, or if the police just did it incognito. It would be pretty easy to spoof. Just create a dummy account on one one of the websites. Send in a sample of the perpetrator's DNA. Wait for any match results to come back. Easy peasy. Can't imagine those websites would be very happy with their service being used like that. And although, I don't plan on committing any crimes and sincerely hope no one closely related to me would either, this makes me uneasy enough to be glad I never sent in a DNA sample to one of those services. It's kind of like, what else can those DNA results be used for that we haven't thought of yet?

 

That's what worries me. I'd rather not be in a database if possible. People didn't think Facebook would sell their data yet here we are. Someone will come up with a way to utilize DNA for the wrong reasons.

 

Just curious here. Has anybody on CF used any of these DNA websites? I won't, but I know my Dad did.

 

I think the cops just uploaded the guys DNA to the site and it matched a family member. They didn't even need the company to cooperate. It should really be illegal. Its not worth the slippery slope even if its used to catch a murderer. Even if you didn't send your DNA if someone in your family did they can match it. Its like facebooks shadow user.

 

I agree that I doubt the majority of people went into profiling their DNA with the intent that law enforcement could just come in and check crime scene DNA against everyone who used the service. Surely,that was not part of the terms and conditions when you agree to use such a service? Also, what is to stop them from doing this on other unsolved cases? I have to wonder if this guy gets off on a technicality? It doesn’t bode well for these businesses imo.

 

IDIOT?

 

If you walk down the street in a public place, and someone takes your picture, that's legal and the photographer can do whatever he wants with the photo, because you are in a public setting and your 'reasonable right to privacy' is greatly reduced. And that's ok.

If you walk down the street, and a strand of your hair is left behind on a park bench, and someone picks that hair up, they can do whatever they want with that hair, because you do not have a reasonable right to privacy in such a setting. And that's ok too.

Now if you are a suspect in a crime, and law enforcement obtains your dna material from a public place setting such as that, and then they continue investigating the crime, including cross-referencing with possible relatives in order to confirm identity, then that's fine too.

The sticky part is using a genealogy service as a part of a criminal investigation 'on the sly'. Granted, in this old cold case, it was probably a wild hunch and someone just decided to 'give it a try', but this then brings into question the actual reasonable expectation of privacy for the 'distant relatives'.

So what do you do? Do you inform the users of the service that their dna records have been requested by the investigators, and they are asked to give permission to look at their dna? Tip off the bad guy much? Doesn't sound like a good idea.

Let the companies openly share their data when requested? No, customers would flee, the business would die. Not a good idea either.

I think the best avenue is the normal one - get a warrant issued to the genealogy company to be able to access their records, with the understanding that such a thing be kept entirely confidential.

I mean honestly, that seems fair. And they DID catch a terrible terrible person who had murdered and raped lots of women. That's a GOOD thing.

 

From what we know, the law enforcement agencies didn't request the DNA from relatives. They submitted the DNA they had on the guy and it gave them a potential family tree and they worked backward. And yes, the websites that use that family tree type service give each user the choice on whether they want to allow relatives to "find them."

It sounds like that's all these detectives did. They used the "find relatives" function to find relatives associated with this DNA and then worked backward to who the DNA belonged to. They probably never even needed a warrant and the website they used probably never knew it was used in that way.

 

The way DNA service I used is you have to send the DNA into them. I don't think they just let you upload DNA files. So they must have sent some sample to them or the company worked with them. Having DNA service is awesome because with that data they can potentially find diseases and all kinds of useful stuff, but if they use it in this manner people will be less likely to use these services.

 

Right, they had this guy's DNA that they built years ago.

The point I'm making is that they didn't ask a service to do anything that they don't do normally. Here's DNA, give us a family tree. If you were on the tree your privacy wasn't violated because you agree to that when you sign up if you enable the "relatives find me" option.

 

Darn...

 

So how do we prevent any unauthorized person from submitting your DNA? Should samples have to be drawn in person to certified labs instead of mailed in anonymously?

 

I don't care about the DNA.

I am so damn happy they found this MFer... I hope he has a nice, fat dick waiting for him in the prison showers.

 

He's 72.... Nobody likes old man butthole anyways.

 

Heard on NPR that the website was open source rather than a private paid website.

Those you could crack open with a court order...

So...what's the difference?

 

You'd be surprised what some dudes will do when they find out the are locked up with a serial rapist.

 

What? Get raped?

 

Agreed.
They have your DNA by proxy from their database of family members
which is bad because they have it without your permission

Rocket River

 

My exact reaction to this. He is old and looks harmless but is a really sadistic person.