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One of the Biggest At-Home DNA Testing Companies Is Working With the FBI (buzzfeednews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: Family Tree DNA, one of the largest private genetic testing companies whose home-testing kits enable people to trace their ancestry and locate relatives, is working with the FBI and allowing agents to search its vast genealogy database in an effort to solve violent crime cases, BuzzFeed News has learned. Federal and local law enforcement have used public genealogy databases for more than two years to solve cold cases, including the landmark capture of the suspected Golden State Killer, but the cooperation with Family Tree DNA and the FBI marks the first time a private firm has agreed to voluntarily allow law enforcement access to its database. While the FBI does not have the ability to freely browse genetic profiles in the library, the move is sure to raise privacy concerns about law enforcement gaining the ability to look for DNA matches, or more likely, relatives linked by uploaded user data.
The Houston-based company, which touts itself as a pioneer in the genetic testing industry and the first to offer a direct-to-consumer test kit, disclosed its relationship with the FBI to BuzzFeed News on Thursday, saying in a statement that allowing access "would help law enforcement agencies solve violent crimes faster than ever." 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. Its work with the FBI is "a very new development, which started with one case last year and morphed," she said. To date, the company has cooperated with the FBI on fewer than 10 cases. The Family Tree database is free to access and can be used by anyone with a DNA profile to upload, not just paying customers.
The Houston-based company, which touts itself as a pioneer in the genetic testing industry and the first to offer a direct-to-consumer test kit, disclosed its relationship with the FBI to BuzzFeed News on Thursday, saying in a statement that allowing access "would help law enforcement agencies solve violent crimes faster than ever." 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. Its work with the FBI is "a very new development, which started with one case last year and morphed," she said. To date, the company has cooperated with the FBI on fewer than 10 cases. The Family Tree database is free to access and can be used by anyone with a DNA profile to upload, not just paying customers.
They don't need your DNA, just someone close to you in the family tree, and they'll basically have your DNA as well.
Are those guys still around?
Wait till they start monetizing their databases by selling them to random companies and quasi-law enforcement types.
I remember all the way back to when MySpace first appeared. Being of the 'older' generation, I asked some people why they would put all this personal information out on the internet for everyone to see. None of them seemed to have any qualms about it at the time. Eventually, after Facebook took over, I noticed more and more people setting their profiles to private and I figured the 'younger' generation was getting a clue about privacy.
Fast forward to today; how long have these DNA testing companies existed. The same question arises, why would you give your DNA 'information' to these companies with no ifs, ands, or buts? Privacy starts at home people! If you want to keep something private, don't give it away.
Facebook, Google, shopping clubs, DNA tests -- what next big thing will come along for people to willingly hand over an FBI dossier worth of information to whomever comes along with a shiny new toy?
If you thought your data was safe from the grubby hands of the FBI, you're wrong.
You can't trust any US companies to not be working with the US gov and law enforcement. Especially the ones where you willingly give them your DNA. It's a treasure trove of data sample for them, of course they will go get them.
My opinion..
Between DNA, wiretapping, encryption, psy profiling, bugging, bank records, fMRI lie detectors (not yet invented, but trying!), etc.. they will never stop, because what it is fundamentally covet is the knowledge of God. Sure they will claim it is for the best interest of society, but I would wager a good number of them are just desperate control freaks. And a hand full are insecure police boys with anger issues who think their girlfriend is cheating on them... that is why they need to read her phone's texts, geo track her car, and run background checks on anyone she associates with.
Also, never once have I heard of a any politician or magistrate claim they wish they had the wisdom of God.
Fun story.. crime labs were seeing the same DNA strand all over various crime sites and authorities thought they had a massive serial killer case brewing before they tracked the traces back to a person who worked the machinery that makes the swabs the police use to collect evidence.
The problem with these sorts of drag nets isn't just the privacy implications, which are huge in their own right, but the inevitable false positives that will land people in prison facing DA's who will fight tooth and nail to prevent that conviction from being overturned. Police today aren't trained to have the skills to investigate past the first reasonable suspect and just keep banging on them until they cave and "confess" or are irrefutably ruled out.
We need police and prosecutorial reform as much as we need a tightening of privacy laws.
I have a sister that is 100% into facebook (yeah, fuck you spell check, I'm not gonna capitalize that). She posts family pictures, tagging me, even after I've asked her not to. She's also sent her DNA to at least one company, and I suspect all of them.
The problem? Dad had 14 siblings, mom 8. What are the odds one of my relatives is an asshole? I'm guessing pretty much 100%. So now I have the FBI looking at me. Never mind the worst thing I've done is 80 MPH on the freeway.
The real problem? Suppose one of my relatives is a major asshat, my DNA matches enough that I get arrested. Now I have to spend hundreds of thousands for a lawyer, only to hopefully get the case tossed out of court. Can I sue the FBI for my legal fees? Yeah, you haven't been paying attention. I'm fucked, if lucky I have the money for the lawyer. Otherwise I could be on trial for shit I never did against a government agency with no budget.
So is there a little room in the basement with a little man coming up with neat new ideas for law enforcement to try out? It seems every couple of weeks there is a new headline about some shiny new tech the fuzz has leveraged, and then you hear nothing else about it.
They stop talking about it because it's an embarrassing failure?
They stop talking about it because it works too good?
They stop talking about it because they forgot about it?
They stop talking about it because they all know it's illegal and wont stand to constitutional scrutiny?
At this rate, I imagine some room full of tech gizmos and computers that nobody know how to use.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Of course Im interested in 23andMe and the like, but until there are protections in place, NO WAY Im giving that info up freely (or ... paying for it I guess) and this is exactly why.
For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion(operation of wandering)(planet) so that they will believe the lie.
Mystery Red of the Great American Eclipse
It has blood on it!
ABCNews: Eclipse makes pendulum wander
If you or your child was born in California after 1983, your DNA is likely being stored by the government, may be available to law enforcement and may even be in the hands of outside researchers.
Like many states, California collects bio-samples from every child born in the state. The material is then stored indefinitely in a state-run biobank, where it may be purchased for outside research.
Bill Burr: https://youtu.be/pC9m45AIsGY
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
Letâ(TM)s just blame the Chinese companies for this for their government connections. Bonus point put an arrest warrant on the officers of these companies.
Wait. Itâ(TM)s done already?
It's totally innocent. Some underpaid lab-tech processes some sample as quickly as possible so they can go home on time.
Now once that sample.. that has zero verification by a third party... enters a database scanned by federal authorities is analyzed they can draw their conclusions faster than the submitter (23-and-me, family tree, ancestry.com) the information/misinformation begins.
Too many times.. too many to mention in the last 15 years... juries rely on submitted DNA data and not the facts, not the evidence or due process. They want to be dismissed from duty with a get-out-of-jail card provided by either the state or the federal government.
There is no absolute for crime... until we have something a more infallible version of "Minority Report"
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/a-reasonable-doubt/480747/
Didn't a bunch of these outfits just all fail to match up identical twins?
WTF is the good of that database?
I developed algorithms and code for a genetic testing company, mostly aimed at infectious diseases. But one day the FBI came calling to see if our system could be used for identifying people, seeing as it was 30-120minutes and fully automated. Spit on one side, get an answer on the other.
Sure, so I was briefly sent to the new alphabet-outreach department to look at that. And their test was based on matching 5 phenotypes out of 6. Worked well when it was first developed on 100 volunteers. In our test database of bit less than 200k subject samples, we'd get 0-10 positive matches for anyone in the lab, usually more than one. We'd also get false negatives, where we'd put someone's dna in the database and a new test would miss it. This is due to things like sample error, corruption, and genetic drift. Turns out the body is constantly evolving, and over 20 years blood genes are unlikely to match hair samples. In that 20 year span a hair sample may not match the previous one, due to drift.
I suggested they look at more than 6 phenotypes to improve accuracy, was told that's the standard and its not changing, and dropped from the team a few days later.
"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool" - Jane Wagner -
For Legal or Regulatory Process: We may share your Personal Information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to:
Enforce or apply the FamilyTreeDNA Terms and Conditions;
https://www.familytreedna.com/legal/privacy-statement
Comply with a valid legal process (e.g., subpoenas, warrants);
Protect the security or integrity of the Services; or
Protect the rights, safety, or property, of FamilyTreeDNA, our employees or users.
If compelled to disclose your Personal Information to law enforcement, we will do our best, unless prohibited by law, to provide you with notice.
The problem is that they're doing something with the data that wasn't part of the original deal. That means the company utterly cannot be trusted with any data pertaining to persons, whatsoever, ever.
This sort of thing is why the medical confidentiality exists, and these guys are violating it wholesale. I really don't care that it's "for a good cause", that it's because this is the FBI, or whatever. Medical confidentiality ought to apply to all things DNA and these guys need to be sued into the ground.
The complete lack of data and privacy protection in the U.S. is astounding. People seemingly not caring about it is even more astounding. Yes, some people can say they care, but unless these voices can amount to a force to drive relevant laws to be established, it's all just smoke.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
First I would like to point out that some people are chimeras. ie they have two different sets of dna https://www.thisisinsider.com/... Second isn't it possible to change your dna with cas9?
I'm probably not the first person in the comments to say "No shit, Sherlock", but did anyone actually not think this was happenning from day one with these companies? I mean come on. You're sending your DNA off in the mail to some random corporation so they can analyse it. There's a huge incentive there for them to give access to that information to anyone and everyone with a checkbook or a billy club. The icing on the cake is that the DNA is actually paying them to do this. This is a human-race epic self own.
A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
this private business is allowed to do whatever they want with their private property
(((alisa rosenbaum))) told me and thus it must be so
You wouldn't want to deep six the body before DNA tests confirm you killed the right guy, now would you? Unless.... AE911Truth dot Org
JUST ARREST EVERYONE ALREADY! We have the highest incarceration rates, and the most laws in the world. Everything you do is a crime or can be tied to a crime sometime in the past or future.
Just arrest every single person in the United States. It will fix the homeless problem. It will ensure everyone is living in a gun free zone. It will ensure everyone has healthcare and food on the table. It will also stimilate the economy. Jails are a boom industry. Stop fusing around with this DNA bullshit. Everyone is guilty, and everyone needs to go to jail.
I don't think they can do this without your permission or a warrant. While it is true 3rd parties are under no 4th Amendment obligation, they cannot just be a crypto wrapper for government access.
Let's check page 2711 of the company's contract with you...
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And about to become more real as AI is merged with genetic interviews.
My question: Are customers aware that Family Tree is potentially sharing their DNA with the FBI? Is it in the agreement for testing?
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
The article says that access to the database is "free." That's not entirely true. The "free transfer" feature is more of a demo than a real product. To get the "full" results, you have to pay $19.
https://www.familytreedna.com/...
I'm all for solving crimes, but there are (at least) two problems here...
First is privacy: Did anyone who sent their DNA to these companies agree to have it rooted through by law enforcement without a warrant? Privacy is a concept, but apparently not in the US. If privacy rights make life more difficult for law enforcement, that's a small price to pay for a free society.
Second, DNA tests are not nearly as reliable as people think. The test itself just looks at a sampling of markers, and interpretation of the results is somewhat subjective. Far worse, and nearly impossible to eliminate, is the danger of contamination. This is both on the side of DNA tests (saliva swab, but maybe you've kissed your SO) and at the crime scene (those skin flakes at the crime scene come from...who, exactly?).
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
recently there was an article on /. that indicated that the results you get back are unreliable and mostly incorrect.
now we learnt the fbi is involved in using the dna information for solving (cold) cases.
looks to me that the real purpose is collecting dna information, and all the rest doesn't really matter.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Dear Customers:
I am writing to address the news that our Gene-by-Gene laboratory, which processes genetic tests for several commercial clients in addition to all of the FamilyTreeDNA tests, has processed a handful of DNA samples for cold cases from the F.B.I. In many cases, the news reports contained false or misleading information.
Let me start with this categorical statement:
LAW ENFORCEMENT DOES NOT HAVE OPEN ACCESS TO THE FTDNA DATABASE.
They cannot search or “dig through” FTDNA profiles any more than an ordinary user can. As with all other genetic genealogy services, law enforcement must provide valid legal process, such as a subpoena or search warrant to receive any information beyond that which any other user can access.
I have been an avid genealogist since I was twelve years old. FamilyTreeDNA is not just a business, it is my passion. I fully understand your privacy concerns on a personal level.
Law enforcement has the ability to test DNA samples from crime scenes and upload the results into databases, like any other customer can, and it appears they have been doing it at other companies for the past year. The distinction is that, according to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, we expect the FBI and law enforcement agencies to let us know when they submit something to our database. We moved to something transparent, rather than having them work in a stealthy way. Other than that, nothing changed that affects the privacy of our customers.
FamilyTreeDNA has always taken your privacy seriously and will continue to do so. We’ve remained steadfast, always, refusing to sell your data to pharmaceutical companies and other third parties.
One of the key reasons law enforcement wanted to submit their samples to us is the same reason many of you have: out of all the major companies, FamilyTreeDNA is the only one that has its own lab, and our customers’ samples never leave our company.
As previously stated, law enforcement can only receive information beyond that which is accessible to the standard user by providing FamilyTreeDNA with valid legal process, such as a subpoena or a search warrant. Again, this is specified in FamilyTreeDNA’s Terms of Service, just as with all other companies.
ABOUT OUR TERMS OF SERVICE
The Terms of Service were changed in May of 2018 to reflect GDPR requirements, and we informed our customers about the update at that time. Those changes included a paragraph that required law enforcement to receive our permission to enter the database and since it was a part of the overall update, notice was sent to every FTDNA customer. Without infringing upon our customers’ privacy, the language in the paragraph referring to law enforcement was updated in December, although nothing changed in the actual handling of such requests. It was an oversight that notice of the revision was not sent to you and that is our mistake. Therefore, we are reverting our TOS to our May 2018 version, and any future changes will be communicated to you in a timely manner.
This is the May 2018, GDPR-compliant version, communicated to you at that time: “You agree to not use the Services for any law enforcement purposes, forensic examinations, criminal investigations, and/or similar purposes without the required legal documentation and written permission from FamilyTreeDNA.”
WE WILL DO A BETTER JOB OF COMMUNICATING WITH YOU.
I am genuinely sorry for not having handled our communications with you as we should have.
We’ve received an incredible amount of support from those of you who believe this is an opportunity for honest, law-abiding citizens to help catch bad guys and bring closure to devastated families. We want you to understand, as many of you already do, that you have the same protections that you’ve always had and that you have nothing to fear.
We’ve also hea