Ancestry.com Genealogy Company Giving Access to Its Database to the Police
| Ancestry.com Genealogy Company Giving Access to Its Database to the Police | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | Ancestry.com Genealogy Company Has Given Access to Its Database to the Idaho Police |
| Location | United States |
| Date | 2015 |
| Solove Harm | Disclosure |
| Information | Identifying, Physical Characteristics, Medical and Health, Family |
| Threat Actors | Ancestry.com LLC, Law Enforcement |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | People who's genetic data was on Anestry.com |
| High Risk Groups | Suspect |
| Tangible Harms | Anxiety |
Ancestry.com genealogy company gave access to its data base to the police of Idaho, who were investigating a 1996 murder case. The person, whom the police suspected after a DNA search, turned out to be not guilty.
Description
Ancestry is for-profit genealogy company with the largest database in the world. It operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites and most users use it to find relatives, learn about ancestors and get insights into their health.
In 2015 Idaho police uploaded some crime-scene evidence to Ancestry.com and searched for possible matches. A partial match popped up, and Ancestry.com told police that it would hand over the information if they got a search warrant, so they did. The is an example of Disclosure.
Interestingly, it turned out, that the person, whom the police suspected after the DNA search, appeared to be not guilty. They targeted a man who afterwards said to the media that he regarded his experience as an invasion of privacy.
It took a police interrogation, another DNA test and weeks of time until the suspect was cleared.
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2020/02/25/dna-testing-kit
https://www.nola.com/article d58a3d17-c89b-543f-8365-a2619719f6f0.html