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So the Golden State Killer was all over the news last week and he was busted using DNA evidence. It was not his DNA found, but someone's in his family, and that helped point investigators towards him. I also read yesterday, where police had another suspect last year that was fingered by DNA evidence, but that lead turned out to be a dead end. The AP has a nice writeup about the legal side of things, and while these companies are saying they do not sell your DNA profile, so that it ends up in a "public" database, it is apparent it is surely happening somewhere.
The big commercial databases insist they have much stricter customer privacy practices than websites such as GEDmatch and don’t hand over data without a court order. It’s unclear whether the California case will affect customers’ trust in DNA services overall. "These companies are saying that they’re different," said Tiffany Li, a technology attorney and Yale Law School fellow. "I think what’s key is this open-source database is made up of data profiles that people mostly got from those private companies."
The big commercial databases insist they have much stricter customer privacy practices than websites such as GEDmatch and don’t hand over data without a court order. It’s unclear whether the California case will affect customers’ trust in DNA services overall. "These companies are saying that they’re different," said Tiffany Li, a technology attorney and Yale Law School fellow. "I think what’s key is this open-source database is made up of data profiles that people mostly got from those private companies."