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Data From Open-Source Ancestry Site Leads to More Arrests (fastcompany.com)
schwit1 tipped us off to new arrests made with genealogical evidence -- and growing interest in open source genealogy databases. Fast Company reports:
In the last week, police have arrested two suspects in unrelated cold cases thanks to data gleaned from open-source ancestry site GEDMatch, reports the New York Times. That's the same open-source ancestry site that was used to track down the alleged Golden State Killer earlier this year. One of the arrests this week was of a 66-year-old nurse who is suspected of killing a 12-year-old girl in 1986. The other arrest is of a 49-year-old DJ who strangled a schoolteacher in 1992. Thanks to data from GEDMatch, Texas law enforcement also thinks that a man who was executed in 1999 for killing a 9-year-old girl was now also behind the murder of a 40-year-old realtor in 1981.
It all reminds me of that scene in "The Circle" where they demo technology that finds "a randomly-selected fugitive from justice -- a proven menace to our global community" -- within 20 minutes.
Last month DNA-based investigations also led to the arrest of the suspected murderer of two vacationers in 1987, and helped identify a suicide cold case from 2001.
Now an Ohio newspaper reports: Emboldened by that breakthrough, a number of private investigators are spearheading a call for amateur genealogists to help solve other cold cases by contributing their own genetic information to the same public database. They say a larger array of genetic information would widen the pool to find criminals who have eluded capture. The idea is to get people to transfer profiles compiled by commercial genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe onto the smaller, public open-source database created in 2010, called GEDmatch. The commercial sites require authorities to obtain search warrants for the information; the public site does not.
But the push is running up against privacy concerns.
It all reminds me of that scene in "The Circle" where they demo technology that finds "a randomly-selected fugitive from justice -- a proven menace to our global community" -- within 20 minutes.
Last month DNA-based investigations also led to the arrest of the suspected murderer of two vacationers in 1987, and helped identify a suicide cold case from 2001.
Now an Ohio newspaper reports: Emboldened by that breakthrough, a number of private investigators are spearheading a call for amateur genealogists to help solve other cold cases by contributing their own genetic information to the same public database. They say a larger array of genetic information would widen the pool to find criminals who have eluded capture. The idea is to get people to transfer profiles compiled by commercial genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe onto the smaller, public open-source database created in 2010, called GEDmatch. The commercial sites require authorities to obtain search warrants for the information; the public site does not.
But the push is running up against privacy concerns.
The threat of excess reliance on DNA evidence, remains the same, it can always be obtained from you and then planted where ever they want it, https://www.quora.com/How-many.... You leak DNA where ever you go, that is what they are relying on to prosecute you but you loose it where ever you go and they want to prosecute your for that. Drop a hair on the actual criminal and they drop it at the scene of the crime, you are fucked. The criminal collects it before hand and leaves it too obscure the crime trail. Use a hooker to collect an undeniable sample. Yeah over reliance on DNA is extremely dangerous to the enemies of a corrupt state. You can be any where they want you to be, well, at least your DNA can.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
"Texas law enforcement also thinks that a man who was executed in 1999 for killing a 9-year-old girl was now also behind the murder of a 40-year-old realtor in 1981."
No doubt this same dead guy was guilty of every unsolved, cold case murder committed in Texas for the last 35 years.
In other news, Texas law enforcement is now boasting about having the highest percentage of solved cases in US history.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
..are the exonerations? The truth is The Police and DA's are willing to bend the laws to use DNA evidence against you, but when that DNA evidence proves your innocence, especially if they've broken you down into confessing, they do everything they can to keep you from using it to get out of prison.
One way justice system.
These databases need to be deleted too. The privacy violates are incredible.
What do you do when an insurance company notices that someone in your family has a hereditary disease and decides to jack up your premiums? We need strong laws to protect DNA data and prevent that kind of abuse.
We already have a law, it's called Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. The only catch, congress didnt put any protection for life insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance.
https://www.genome.gov/1000232...
I see serious issues with this technology, and it's not a subtle one.
Trump jokes aside, today I do not live under an authoritative regime. I don't exactly trust my government, but I do feel free to speak out against their abuses without fearing prison or worse.
The problem is that governments change, and data is forever. Thirty years from now I could be a geriatric freedom fighter or my children could be fighting the war against the machines. If that happens, that DNA data will still exist and be used against us. I won't be a single wrinkly face among billions, I'll be in a tiny well-documented pool of possibly a dozen individuals.
In this case "think of the children" is entirely appropriate. Contributing to these databases today takes away privacy options for future generations permanently.
This is a terrible idea. Abort. Terminate. Halt. Cease.