Posted on 02/05/2019 2:57:54 PM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas
The president of FamilyTreeDNA, one of the country’s largest at-home genetic testing companies, has apologized to its users for failing to disclose that it was sharing DNA data with federal investigators working to solve violent crimes.
In the booming business of consumer DNA testing and genealogy, FamilyTreeDNA had marketed itself as a leader of consumer privacy and a fierce protector of user data, refusing, unlike some of its competitors, to sell information to third parties.
But unbeknown to its users, the Houston-based firm quietly and voluntarily agreed in 2018 to open its database of more than two million records to the F.B.I. and examine DNA samples in its laboratory to identify suspects and victims of unsolved rapes and murders.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Too bad most folks don’t understand the concept of false positives and certainly not the mathematics of probability.
That “one in a billion” chance of a match to a crime scene is only the theoretical ideal.
Realities of testing and analysis can bring that down to about 1 in 10k or lower.
Family Branched Interests
One in a billion means there are nine or so perfect matches.
I knew this day would come.
Yes it does.
Unfortunately, there is never a perfect crime scene, sample, or comparison.
ping!
And Google is an investor in 23andMe, which was founded by Sergey Brin’s wife. Big Data. Just think what it would be worth to a potential employer (or mate) to know everything there is that can be known by comparing your DNA with millions of others. Who is genetically predisposed to be an alcoholic? Or a workaholic?
ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas wrote: “To solve rapes and murders? Sounds great, right? Not so fast. Suppose your 3rd cousin, that you didn’t know existed, was accused of rape, police took a dna sample, and you got a dna kit as a birthday present. Yes, I think there are good people working for the FBI. But do you trust the FBI as an entity?”
Suppose your sister was the one raped...
Suppose the DNA samples led to the arrest of a serial killer.
Tradeoff, tradeoffs, tradeoffs.
What if eventually employers start to ask for DNA samples as a condition of employment?
[ FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I. ]
I for one, always think giving your DNA to strangers is a great idea.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well said.
“What if eventually employers start to ask for DNA samples as a condition of employment?”
Start your own business. Problem solved.
Yes, I think there are good people working for the FBI.
**************
Those “good people” do what they’re told to do, if they value their careers. Most people in the federal government have at one time or another seen corruption, malfeaseance and mismanagement but they keep their heads down and don’t say a thing.
“Suppose your sister was the one raped...
Suppose the DNA samples led to the arrest of a serial killer.
Tradeoff, tradeoffs, tradeoffs.”
Would you be singing about tradeoffs if you were the poor SOB locked up for something you absolutely didn’t do?
I’m tempted to do one of these test with someone else’s DNA as mine, just to get crap data into the system.
Also doing the test with my DNA under a fake name.
DesertRhino wrote: “Would you be singing about tradeoffs if you were the poor SOB locked up for something you absolutely didn’t do?”
Name a person falsely convicted based upon DNA.
“I for one, always think giving your DNA to strangers is a great idea. What could possibly go wrong?”
Child support?
Catching a serial killer, in itself, is a good thing. The state knowing everything about everybody, not so much. After 9/11 the deep state got congress to authorize mass spying. And now they use it for political power.
“Name a person falsely convicted based upon DNA.”
https://gizmodo.com/when-bad-dna-tests-lead-to-false-convictions-1797915655
https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2015/02/dna-evidence-can-be-faked
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