Author Topic: Use of DNA in serial killer probe sparks privacy concerns  (Read 3906 times)

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Online Smokin Joe

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Use of DNA in serial killer probe sparks privacy concerns
« on: April 27, 2018, 07:49:32 am »
Use of DNA in serial killer probe sparks privacy concerns
http://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/use-of-dna-in-serial-killer-probe-sparks-privacy-concerns

Quote
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Investigators who used a genealogical website to find the ex-policeman they believe is a shadowy serial killer and rapist who terrified California decades ago call the technique ground-breaking.

But others say it raises troubling legal and privacy concerns for the millions of people who submit their DNA to such sites to discover their heritage.

There aren’t strong privacy laws to keep police from trolling ancestry site databases, said Steve Mercer, the chief attorney for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

“People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family,” Mercer said, adding that they “have fewer privacy protections than convicted offenders whose DNA is contained in regulated databanks.”

excerpt....nore at link.

See also:https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/technology/article/A-look-at-DNA-testing-that-ID-d-a-suspected-12868133.php







« Last Edit: April 27, 2018, 07:53:21 am by Smokin Joe »
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline driftdiver

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Re: Use of DNA in serial killer probe sparks privacy concerns
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2018, 10:31:25 am »
I find it hard to believe they found him that easily. 
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Online Smokin Joe

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Re: Use of DNA in serial killer probe sparks privacy concerns
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2018, 03:20:22 am »
I find it hard to believe they found him that easily.
Must have a unique set of genetic markers in the family.  Someone is sitting on a lot of data that will eventually be abused.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis