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DNA & Me...are there any unintended consequences? You bet! LEO can access your DNA

DocTim420

The Doctor is OUT and has moved on...
DNA & Me...are there any unintended consequences? You bet! LEO can access your DNA

This article presents an argument that supports my reasoning--to do all I can to keep information about me and my DNA off private and public databases. Hell I don't even have Facebook presence...lol, so go ahead and call me Barney Rubble, but it I am hard to find.

Police can request your DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry

Millions of people have handed their DNA over to genetic testing companies like Ancestry or 23andMe to learn more about their family trees.

But when you ship off your saliva, law enforcement could have access to your DNA.

Police could use genetic information it gets from those companies to identify you in a criminal investigation, even if you’ve never used one of those services.

Jacksonville resident Eric Yarham wanted to learn more about his family tree, so he mailed off his saliva to 23andMe.

“Just trying to unravel the mystery that is your genetics,” said Yarham, who lives in the Riverside area. “That lingering 0.3 percent is sub-Saharan African. So that’s swimming around in my DNA." Yarham had no idea police could request his genetic information.

Both 23andMe and Ancestry confirm your genetic information could be disclosed to law enforcement if they have a warrant.

Action News Jax asked 23andMe Privacy Officer Kate Black whether the company notifies customers about that possibility before they mail in their DNA. “We try to make information available on the website in various forms, so through Frequently Asked Questions, through information in our privacy center,” Black said.

According to the company’s self-reported data, law enforcement has requested information for five American 23andMe customers.

So far, the company reports it has not turned over any information.

But Black said she wouldn’t entirely rule it out in the future.“We would always review a request and take it on a case-by-case basis,” Black said.

Ancestry self-reports that it complied with a 2014 search warrant to identify a customer based on a DNA sample.

Spokespeople at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office and the Florida Department Of Law Enforcement told Action News Jax they don’t recall any local investigations in which genetic testing information was requested from a private company.

The departments said they don’t know for sure.

“The police make mistakes and I would rather not be on the unfortunate end of one of those mistakes, as a result of my DNA being somewhere that is unlucky,” Yarham said.

But it doesn't even have to be your DNA; if a family member who shipped off their saliva to one of these companies, law enforcement can request their genetic information for “familial matching.”

“They can see what the likelihood is of these certain alleles, of these genetic markers, matching up to make it -- likelihood of whether you were involved in, let’s say, that criminal activity or not,” said Jacksonville Dr. Saman Soleymani, who has studied genetics extensively and been an expert witness in local criminal cases.

Soleymani said he didn't take any chances when he sent his DNA to 23andMe. “I literally sent my kit saying my name is Billy Bob,” he added.

If you or a family member has sent in your genetic material to Ancestry or 23andMe, both companies allow you to delete your DNA results.

Click here to learn how to delete your results from Ancestry and here to do that for 23andMe results.

Source: actionnewsjax.com/news/local/police-can-request-your-dna-from-23andme-ancestry/630565206
 

geneva_sativa

Well-known member
yeah, strangely, a few of those DNA sites have 3rd party disclosure consent. . .

even stranger when you look at some of the people associated with these companies.
 

Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
When I was pulled into the cop-shop 13 years ago for alleged criminal damage (I kicked a door and sprained my foot)...and cannabis possession they insisted to take a scrape off the inside of my mouth for DNA.

I said that I wasn't interested to give it to them, and they said that they wouldn't release me on police bail until I did, so I had no choice really.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Becoming Big Brother more and more....a pill with sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication.
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm584933.htm

Micro chip implants into employees's wrists, a chip the size of a grain of rice injected between their thumb and index finger.It identifies and tracks chips attached to objects.

DNA sites sharing info. Yikes!

The world is getting weirder by the day and less privacy....Pandora's Box.
 

dddaver

Active member
Veteran
Scary!

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]From article: "Both 23andMe and Ancestry confirm your genetic information could be disclosed to law enforcement if they have a warrant."

That statement might seem to give some solace or confidence . But afaik, all that getting a warrant takes is for 1 unethical judge to sign it. And we all know there are plenty of those to go around.

The judicial system is corrupt. When Trump can nominate a 36 year old with no prior judicial experience for a federal judgeship, that makes that corruption pretty clear to me.

When presented a warrant to sign, a guy with no experience might sign anything at all. Especially if he is a law and order guy (as most Republicans are), not knowing it's implications at all.
[/FONT]
 

Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
My fuckin' phone asked for a biometric (fingerprint scan) the other day.

Reminds me of when we had a class project in grade school. Daub your fingers on an inkpad, apply to paper and presto completo, an A+.
 

944s2

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
My fuckin' phone asked for a biometric (fingerprint scan) the other day.

Reminds me of when we had a class project in grade school. Daub your fingers on an inkpad, apply to paper and presto completo, an A+.
yep my i phone has that,,
still feels peculiar every time i use the phone,,,,s2
 

dddaver

Active member
Veteran
The military took a swab from inside my cheek in '98, before I went to Kosovo. Must be on record somewhere.

I have read that your fingerprints can be taken off a photo of your fingers now.

But I had always assumed your fingerprint to unlock your phone would be kept locally, by the phone. But that very likely isn't true given all this "sharing" shit. And that technology is apparently going to be used eventually to access your home computer? Whoa Nelly.
 

DocTim420

The Doctor is OUT and has moved on...
In So Cali, if you are charged with a felony and sitting in a county jail, it is mandatory to "cough up" a DNA sample--but....not so for those charged with a misdemeanor. The DA can do a "spit and acquit" deal, in exchange for a "voluntary" sample of the suspect's DNA, the DA will drop/reduce the charges. The goal is to reduce the backlog of unsolved cases where the suspects' DNA has been collected. Greater the size of the DNA sample pool--greater the number of unsolved cases that potentially can be closed.

BTW...as far as I know (remember, Doc is north of 60 and, BTW thanks to all of you paying FICA tax this year as you are financing my Social Security payments) my DNA is NOT in any database. Unfortunately, I am sure a few my family members have sent their DNA for testing, so if I decide to go on a crazy mushroom cloud rampage, I am sure familial DNA matching would be the "wild card".
 

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
DNA collection, as a result of a charge, no matter the charge, should be illegal. Especially if the individual does not consent.
Charges mean absolutely nothing to the system!
However, I can see how a convicted person could be required to submit a sample.

The illegal system has been turned on its head!
 

JustSumTomatoes

Indicas make dreams happen
From what I've read DNA discrimination has started to become a concern at the workplace. Suppose at an interview you are offered a bottle of water and accept it, having a drink of refreshing Dasani. After leaving the interview and disposing of the bottle it is later collected from the trash and sent off to a lab where testing confirms you have markers in your DNA for heart disease. This could lead to a decision not to hire based on liability for healthcare coverage or absence from work.

Luckily a federal law has been passed making this practice illegal... https://www.genome.gov/10002328/genetic-discrimination-fact-sheet/

I remember in George Orwell's famous book "1984" that big brother had installed a device in everyone's home called a telescreen that would keep track of everything that was said and had happened. Who would of thought that in the future people would voluntarily give up their right to privacy and even willingly pay to do it by means of ancestral DNA mapping and various smart devices listing at all times. "Alexa, tell big brother to piss off".
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
In Cali you give up DNA on felony arrestor real criminls chhatges...they dropped charges in12 hours but got my DNA anyhow....so if I ever completely shave beware...yeehaw.....most laws don't effect corporations much..laws blah the big guys have it in the budget....$¢$$$$$....them laws don't mean shit..good luck proving shit...
 

yesum

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Do it under an assumed name and then delete the account. That is what I did.
 

Gry

Well-known member
Know and understand where you live.
Very few of us will hit the grave with out such a donation.
That will not be the case for those who follow.
They will take what they want from the most innocent
as they deliver lots and lots of vaccines.
 
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