Zack Whittaker reports: Gedmatch, the DNA analysis site that police used to catch the so-called Golden State Killer, was pulled briefly offline on Sunday while its parent company investigated how its users’ DNA profile data apparently became available to law enforcement searches. Read more on TechCrunch.
Search Results for: GEDMatch
Police are getting DNA data from people who think they opted out
Jordan Smith reports: Cece Moore, an actress and director-turned-genetic genealogist, stood behind a lectern at New Jersey’s Ramapo College in late July. Propelled onto the national stage by the popular PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” Moore was delivering the keynote address for the inaugural conference of forensic genetic genealogists at Ramapo, one of only two…
Police to use private DNA banks to try to solve two cold cases
DutchNews.nl reports that Dutch investigators will be using American genealogy DNA banks to help solve two cold cases” In particular, police want to access DNA held by two American companies – GEDMatch and FamilyTreeDNA – which were set up to allow people to find out about relatives and ancestry but which are also being used…
Modern-Day General Warrants and the Challenge of Protecting Third-Party Privacy Rights in Mass, Suspicionless Searches of Consumer Databases
Modern-Day General Warrants and the Challenge of Protecting Third-Party Privacy Rights in Mass, Suspicionless Searches of Consumer Databases A Hoover Institution Essay by Jennifer Lynch Aegis Series Paper No. 2104 From the introduction: Today, more than ever, law enforcement has access to massive amounts of consumer data that allow police to essentially pluck a suspect…
Why a Data Breach at a Genealogy Site Has Privacy Experts Worried
Heather Murphy reports that a data security incident involving GEDmatch has people worried. GEDmatch already had privacy advocates worried because of the data it has shared with law enforcement (see previous coverage on PogoWasRight.org). Now there was a new reason for concern….. The peculiar matches began early on a Sunday morning. Across the world, genealogists…
Judge Says Police Can Search Company’s Entire DNA Database
Sara Boboltz reports: A Florida detective successfully obtained a warrant to search the company GEDmatch’s full database of user-provided genetic information, even if users had opted out of appearing in police search results, HuffPost has confirmed. The warrant, signed by a judge in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in July, will likely earn praise from…