Cold Case Inquiries Stall After Ancestry.com Revisits Policy For Users (nytimes.com) 22
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Since online genealogy services began operating, millions of people have sent them saliva samples in hopes of learning about their family roots and discovering far-flung relatives. These services also appeal to law enforcement authorities, who have used them to solve cold case murders and to investigate crimes like the 2022 killing of four University of Idaho students. Crime-scene DNA submitted to genealogy sites has helped investigators identify suspects and human remains by first identifying relatives.
The use of public records and family-tree building is crucial to this technique, and its main tool has been the genealogy site Ancestry, which has vast amounts of individual DNA profiles and public records. More than 1,400 cases have been solved with the help of so-called genetic genealogy investigations, most of them with help from Ancestry. But a recent step taken by the site is now deterring many police agencies from employing this crime-solving technique.
In August, Ancestry revised the terms and conditions on its site to make it clear that its services were off-limits "for law enforcement purposes" without a legal order or warrant, which can be hard to get, because of privacy concerns. This followed the addition last year to the terms and conditions that the services could not be used for "judicial proceedings." Investigators say the implications are dire and will result in crucial criminal cases slowing or stalling entirely, denying answers to grieving families. "Everyone who does this work has depended on the records database that Ancestry controls," said David Gurney, who runs Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey. "Without it, casework is going to be a lot slower, and there will be some cases that can't be resolved at all."
The use of public records and family-tree building is crucial to this technique, and its main tool has been the genealogy site Ancestry, which has vast amounts of individual DNA profiles and public records. More than 1,400 cases have been solved with the help of so-called genetic genealogy investigations, most of them with help from Ancestry. But a recent step taken by the site is now deterring many police agencies from employing this crime-solving technique.
In August, Ancestry revised the terms and conditions on its site to make it clear that its services were off-limits "for law enforcement purposes" without a legal order or warrant, which can be hard to get, because of privacy concerns. This followed the addition last year to the terms and conditions that the services could not be used for "judicial proceedings." Investigators say the implications are dire and will result in crucial criminal cases slowing or stalling entirely, denying answers to grieving families. "Everyone who does this work has depended on the records database that Ancestry controls," said David Gurney, who runs Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey. "Without it, casework is going to be a lot slower, and there will be some cases that can't be resolved at all."
Re:This is a good thing (Score:5, Informative)
You don't have to, your 2nd cousin did and this will allow the police to identify you.
Get a warrant (Score:5, Insightful)
"Everyone who does this work has depended on the records database that Ancestry controls," said David Gurney, who runs Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey. "Without it, casework is going to be a lot slower, and there will be some cases that can't be resolved at all."
The information can still be obtained with a proper legal order or warrant. Get the warrant. If that's the requirement, then meet the requirement.
Re: Get a warrant (Score:2)
Since these requests used to be basically fishing expeditions - see what matches against a large database - the rules will have to be changed to allow such expeditions or they will die off.
Re: (Score:2)
Those types of fishing expeditions run counter to the basic principle of "presumed innocent until proven guilty", at least in my mind. So I'm not crying over this news.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure. I'm just pointing out that "go get a warrant" isn't possible in this use case precisely because fishing expeditions are prohibited under the current rules.
Re: (Score:1)
"I'm not crying over this news."
The relatives and victims of the killers/rapists/whatever who will now get away with their crimes will be the ones who do the crying.
Re: (Score:1)
It might stop him from increasing the number of victims.
Re: Get a warrant (Score:2)
Unless a suspect themselves have tested, genetic genealogy can only produce leads for further investigation. You can't be convicted, probably not even accused on your cousins DNA alone... in a state which respects basic civil rights, at least. Which it's an open question how much the US is right now.
Then again, if they don't respect basic civil rights, it's bold to assume they care about evidence at all, genetic or otherwise.
Ancestry is a PE run lobster trap, in a screw of enshittification. They are the sor
Re: (Score:2)
Get the warrant.
Cases often go cold because there's not enough evidence pointing to a specific person to get a warrant. Warrants do not get issued generically for "I want to search a 3rd party private DNA database."
I'm sure the stall has nothing to do (Score:2, Interesting)
Seriously look it up. If we had a functional media it would be much bigger news. Most of the Democrats sucks so hard in messaging...
Re: (Score:1)
Oh shut the fuck up with your tiresome bullshit.
It takes a special kind of moron (Score:3)
To voluntarily send their DNA off to a corporation for cataloguing. Sure are a fuck ton of morons out there.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
I honestly don't give the slightest fuck if a family member is convicted of a crime because of my DNA sample. In fact I'd be delighted.
DNA is pretty low error.
Good! (Score:1)
Get a warrant or shove off. The data was never meant for law enforcement and that it has been has stifled a lot of potential scientific discovery. Cops ruin *everything*.
Good. (Score:2)
Peoples privacy is far more inportant.