The Golden State Killer Is Tracked Through a Thicket of DNA, and Experts Shudder

[Judi Lynn]

The Golden State Killer Is Tracked Through
a Thicket of DNA, and Experts Shudder
The arrest of a suspect has set off alarms among
some scientists and ethicists worried that consumer
DNA may be widely accessed by law enforcement.

By GINA KOLATA and HEATHER MURPHY APRIL 27, 2018

Genetic testing services have become enormously popular with people looking for long-lost relatives or clues to hereditary diseases. Most never imagined that one day intimate pieces of their DNA could be mined to assist police detectives in criminal cases.

Even as scientific experts applauded this week’s arrest of the Golden State Killer suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, some expressed unease on Friday at reports that detectives in California had used a public genealogy database to identify him. Privacy and ethical issues glossed over in the public’s rush to embrace DNA databases are now glaringly apparent, they said.

“This is really tough,” said Malia Fullerton, an ethicist at the University of Washington who studies DNA forensics. “He was a horrible man and it is good that he was identified, but does the end justify the means?”

Coming so quickly on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook data on more than 70 million users was shared without their permission, it is beginning to dawn on consumers that even their most intimate digital data — their genetic profiles — may be passed around in ways they never intended.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/health/dna-privacy-golden-state-killer-genealogy.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Mr. Dixie has been given a DNA test kit/offer.

From his grown children. He just has to do the cheek swap thing and send the kit in, with his name and other demographic info.

Privacy concerns are why he is not going to use it, however. There are no family medical issues which might have pushed him into reconsidering.

I get that.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. And just how else are we supposed to catch these killers/rapists?

I'd like to see the folks worried about our privacy answer that.

[MontanaMama]

3. My nuclear family

is deceased with the exception of my younger sister. I would so love to take a DNA test to know more about my genetic and ethnic background. Especially for my son since I’m an older mom and after I’m gone there’s nobody to give him that information. However, a simple google search makes it crystal clear that our genetic data is not private or safe. It’s not worth it. 😔

[Igel]

4. Depends on where you get the analysis and what you do with it.

In the case in the OP, the people voluntarily took their genetic data and personally performed the actions to make the data public.

In this case, the claim "I wanted my data used for genealogical research, not to catch criminals" means "I think it's more important to cooperate in finding lost relatives or explore who my 3rd or 4th cousins might be instead of catching the guy who raped 50 women."

Some DNA-analysis companies do make a point of saying that your data might be used in research. Such research typically has pretty much all the identifying data stripped out and is often presented only in the statistics derived from it. Sort of like saying, "Malik Johnson is a male African-American 8th grader at Jakupsky Middle School in Wainscotting, Vermont, has a 3.8 GPA and three siblings ...." and reducing him to "The average 8th-grade male AfAm GPA in Vermont is 3.2, n = 32,935".

That, of course, might change, and there's no telling what a subpoena could do.

[NNadir]

5. I have no problem with public access to DNA so long as it is not used as a tool for bigotry.

While I have never had occasion to have mine analyzed, and while I don't really believe that crap about 0.22% African, 13.2% Hungarian...blah...blah...I think access to these databases can tell us a lot about human health and about our humanity.

If occasionally it also finds inhumanity, I'm OK with that.

This was a database people put up - if I understand it correctly - to find relatives. It is therefore not anonymous, by definition.

Listen: If I was distantly related (or even closely related) to a person who committed these kinds of crimes, well then, if someone wanted my DNA to show that, I'd be pleased and honored to help.

This is a severe, horrible criminal. He needed to be caught.

I applaud the creativity and intelligence used to get him.

[pansypoo53219]

6. don't commit crime. alls fair.