Post by Scumhunter on Oct 5, 2018 20:42:48 GMT -5
One thing we've seen this year is amazing breakthroughs in DNA technology- where former cases that once seemed unsolvable were solved- in the case of the Golden State Killer and the unknown killer of April Tinsley, they were in part solved partially by police looking at public website DNA databases.
Detectives used GEDMatch to help solve the GSK case which was a free public database. In other words, there really wasn't a need to ask for permission with them like with other DNA websites.
However, some members of the general public are concerned at the prospect of sites like ancestry.com, 23andme.com where they pay for and submit under the presumption of privacy just to learn their heritage- only for it to be potentially be used for law enforcement. It does seem law enforcement can get information through court orders, although it is very rare. (In other words, only general exceptions of cases considered such as where the killer may be a significant threat to the general public).
While it is important to bring killers to justice, some are asking about the cost of privacy in times like these.
All someone wants to do is find out if they're Native American while unbeknownst to them law enforcement is using it to find out if their uncle Ted is a serial killer!
So I figured this would be a good thread to discuss our thoughts.
Me, personally, I don't see a problem with law enforcement using DNA sites as long as it's not overused. A case like GSK needed to be solved and even though Joseph James DeAngelo *looks* like he is now a physically disabled 70-plus-year-old man, there was no way of knowing that previously- he was still an alleged serial killer who could have been a threat to the public. (Once again court orders and legal hoops would need to be jumped through but imo it only becomes a problem if they start using ancestry.com 23andme.com etc... for every case).
Also, we submit our DNA and everything under the presumption of privacy, but in this internet/reality-tv era, nothing is really private anymore to begin with.
Still, I'm sure all of us have unique takes on this issue so I wanted to make a thread for us to share our thoughts.
Detectives used GEDMatch to help solve the GSK case which was a free public database. In other words, there really wasn't a need to ask for permission with them like with other DNA websites.
However, some members of the general public are concerned at the prospect of sites like ancestry.com, 23andme.com where they pay for and submit under the presumption of privacy just to learn their heritage- only for it to be potentially be used for law enforcement. It does seem law enforcement can get information through court orders, although it is very rare. (In other words, only general exceptions of cases considered such as where the killer may be a significant threat to the general public).
While it is important to bring killers to justice, some are asking about the cost of privacy in times like these.
All someone wants to do is find out if they're Native American while unbeknownst to them law enforcement is using it to find out if their uncle Ted is a serial killer!
So I figured this would be a good thread to discuss our thoughts.
Me, personally, I don't see a problem with law enforcement using DNA sites as long as it's not overused. A case like GSK needed to be solved and even though Joseph James DeAngelo *looks* like he is now a physically disabled 70-plus-year-old man, there was no way of knowing that previously- he was still an alleged serial killer who could have been a threat to the public. (Once again court orders and legal hoops would need to be jumped through but imo it only becomes a problem if they start using ancestry.com 23andme.com etc... for every case).
Also, we submit our DNA and everything under the presumption of privacy, but in this internet/reality-tv era, nothing is really private anymore to begin with.
Still, I'm sure all of us have unique takes on this issue so I wanted to make a thread for us to share our thoughts.
