Searching DNA For Relatives Raises Concerns

An anonymous reader calls our attention to California's familial searching policy, which looks for genetic ties between culprits and kin. The technique has come to the fore in the last few years, after a Colorado prosecutor pushed the FBI to relax its rules on cross-state searches. "Los Angeles Police Department investigators want to search the state's DNA database again — not for exact matches but for any profiles similar enough to belong to a parent or sibling. The hope is that one of those family members might lead detectives to the killer. This strategy, pioneered in Britain, is poised to become an important crime-fighting tool in the United States. The Los Angeles case will mark the first major use of California's newly approved familial searching policy, the most far-reaching in the nation."

Comments

Big Brother?

[LaskoVortex]

Looks like a double entendre tag to me.

This is why

[bugs2squash]

you should encrypt your DNA using truecrypt.

You insensitive clods!

[PPH]

I'm from Kentucky and everyone's DNA matches!

Re:DNA evidence 'planting'?

[Bob The Cowboy]

I've heard that prostitutes sell used condoms for this very reason. I can't find any links on the web to this effect so maybe its simply a urban legend.

Dear God. I shudder to think of the context ads you'll be getting in the near future.

Re:Privacy concerns, yes

[sgbett]

Why let solid reasoning get in the way of the latest and greatest social networking gag!

-1 Sad Truth :/