6 ms·

FYI, the police is able to find criminals now by finding DNA sequences similarities with your relatives. Not saying this is good or bad, I am just saying you do

by kfk 3y ago

FYI, the police is able to find criminals now by finding DNA sequences similarities with your relatives. Not saying this is good or bad, I am just saying you don't know the extent of the impact to your personal freedom when your relative's DNA is shared.

HenryBemis 3y ago
Well they can narrow it down to the family, unless it was the very DNA giver that left that DNA sample on the scene of the crime. And since 23andme (as I assume others) don't do these anonymously, there is no hope. Unless people use someone as a proxy (i.e. I-1 give my sample to a male colleague to send it as his-2, he-2 gives his sample to someone else to send it as his-3, and so on..). Police would eventually find the guilty in case of a crime, but the 23andme's of this world will be selling confusing (wrong) data.
- stef25 3y ago
  There are plenty of cases where DNA is found at the crime scene, run through a database, match is found with a relative. Then the cops start looking at the family and boom there's your shady uncle with priors they got their guy.
  - quickthrower2 3y ago
    Yes it has come up a few times on forensic files usually on cold cases.
- dylan604 3y ago
  If this was someone trying to fly under the radar by using this scheme to buy burner phones or some such, sure. But this is literal DNA, so even in your attempts to obfuscate, they’d know the name and the sample do not line up, but then be able to link the sample to a family and then figure out who you really are
- pavel_lishin 3y ago
  They can narrow it down to individual family members, based on how much DNA overlap there is.
pfdietz 3y ago
I can help track down distant family members who have committed crimes? Sounds like a plus. I think the angst about this comes from men who don't want their status as fathers of illegitimate children (or, rapists when they were younger) unmasked.
- Majestic121 3y ago
  Why do you make this issue gendered, and if you do why would it impact only men father of illegitimate children, and not cheating mothers ?
  - pfdietz 3y ago
    The mother will already be connected to the child. The father is what would be needing tracking down. I mean, wasn't that completely obvious?
  - watwut 3y ago
    Cause in the case of cheating mother, it is clear she is the mother. And to confirm fatherhood of husband or partner, no external registry is needed or helpful.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > I can help track down distant family members who have committed crimes? Sounds like a plus. It's no longer so easy when the definition of "crime" gets expanded. Let's take this scenario: - you're a first generation Chinese immigrant in the US - a nephew of yours is in China and critical of the CCP - you decide to have your genome scanned into 23andme or whatever to determine if you are at risk of genetic illness - your nephew sprays an anti-CCP tag on a wall somewhere - the Chinese police gathers DNA evidence from a laxly discarded spray can, but doesn't have fingerprints so they can't immediately link the can to your nephew - the Chinese government, either via a legal subpoena or via espionage, gets its hands on your genetic profile from the genetic analytics company - the Chinese government finds your data, now knows that the sprayer must be related to you in some way, and forces everyone of your family to subject to a DNA test Sounds dystopic? Yes. But this is exactly where we will be headed. Police here in Germany already do DNA tests on petty vandalism [1]. [1] https://www.fuldaerzeitung.de/fulda/fulda-bahnhof-neuhof-dna-analyse-ueberfuehrt-taeter-polizei-strafverfahren-91257652.html https://www.fuldaerzeitung.de/fulda/fulda-bahnhof-neuhof-dna...

by kfk 3y ago

HenryBemis 3y ago

Well they can narrow it down to the family, unless it was the very DNA giver that left that DNA sample on the scene of the crime. And since 23andme (as I assume others) don't do these anonymously, there is no hope. Unless people use someone as a proxy (i.e. I-1 give my sample to a male colleague to send it as his-2, he-2 gives his sample to someone else to send it as his-3, and so on..). Police would eventually find the guilty in case of a crime, but the 23andme's of this world will be selling confusing (wrong) data.

stef25 3y ago
There are plenty of cases where DNA is found at the crime scene, run through a database, match is found with a relative. Then the cops start looking at the family and boom there's your shady uncle with priors they got their guy.
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  Yes it has come up a few times on forensic files usually on cold cases.
dylan604 3y ago
If this was someone trying to fly under the radar by using this scheme to buy burner phones or some such, sure. But this is literal DNA, so even in your attempts to obfuscate, they’d know the name and the sample do not line up, but then be able to link the sample to a family and then figure out who you really are
pavel_lishin 3y ago
They can narrow it down to individual family members, based on how much DNA overlap there is.

pfdietz 3y ago

I can help track down distant family members who have committed crimes? Sounds like a plus. I think the angst about this comes from men who don't want their status as fathers of illegitimate children (or, rapists when they were younger) unmasked.

Majestic121 3y ago
Why do you make this issue gendered, and if you do why would it impact only men father of illegitimate children, and not cheating mothers ?
- pfdietz 3y ago
  The mother will already be connected to the child. The father is what would be needing tracking down. I mean, wasn't that completely obvious?
- watwut 3y ago
  Cause in the case of cheating mother, it is clear she is the mother. And to confirm fatherhood of husband or partner, no external registry is needed or helpful.
mschuster91 3y ago
> I can help track down distant family members who have committed crimes? Sounds like a plus. It's no longer so easy when the definition of "crime" gets expanded. Let's take this scenario: - you're a first generation Chinese immigrant in the US - a nephew of yours is in China and critical of the CCP - you decide to have your genome scanned into 23andme or whatever to determine if you are at risk of genetic illness - your nephew sprays an anti-CCP tag on a wall somewhere - the Chinese police gathers DNA evidence from a laxly discarded spray can, but doesn't have fingerprints so they can't immediately link the can to your nephew - the Chinese government, either via a legal subpoena or via espionage, gets its hands on your genetic profile from the genetic analytics company - the Chinese government finds your data, now knows that the sprayer must be related to you in some way, and forces everyone of your family to subject to a DNA test Sounds dystopic? Yes. But this is exactly where we will be headed. Police here in Germany already do DNA tests on petty vandalism [1]. [1] https://www.fuldaerzeitung.de/fulda/fulda-bahnhof-neuhof-dna-analyse-ueberfuehrt-taeter-polizei-strafverfahren-91257652.html https://www.fuldaerzeitung.de/fulda/fulda-bahnhof-neuhof-dna...