Genealogy Websites Were Key to Big Break in Golden State Killer Case

New York Times ^ | 4/26/18 | THOMAS FULLER

[Blue House Sue]

SACRAMENTO — The Golden State Killer raped and murdered victims all across the state of California in an era before Google searches and social media, a time when the police relied on shoe leather, not cellphone records or big data.

But it was technology that got him. The suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested by the police on Tuesday. Investigators accuse him of committing more than 50 rapes and 12 murders.

Investigators used DNA from crime scenes and plugged that genetic profile into a commercial online genealogy database. They found distant relatives of Mr. DeAngelo’s and traced their DNA to him.

[softengine]

You are, indeed. This is an example of why I will never share this kind of information (knowingly). My question is:
1. What data gets collected as an output of blood samples we provide at the doctor's office?
2. Who has access to that data?
3. What rights do I have to view what data is gleaned from those samples?

I want to see bad guys, like this, put away. However, we live in an era where there are so many ways in which data can be collected, analyzed, and utilized - and WE, who's data it is, have virtually no control over either our data, how it is shared (utilized), or its collection in the first place. That should scare every one of us.

Heck, we are not even allowed to view what data is collected on us.

[x]

Those who are living legal and healthy lives have nothing to worry about as their lives should be lived as an open book.

It shows up in the report: "You are 46.9% Northern European, 21.6% Southern European, 31.5% Middle Eastern ... and, oh yes ... you killed 11 people in California back in the 1970s."

[bgill]

Just wait until your insurance company decides to pay for your DNA and kick you off because those with certain markers are prone to xyz disease.

[SauronOfMordor]

It doesn’t take rape or murder to get a government employee interested in having bad things happening to you. You have no guarantees that you will never in the future have somebody in government wishing you harm.

DNA isn’t just gotten from blood or semen. A glass you used, a cigarette you dropped, an article of clothing with a few of your hairs on it ... the technology of retrieving DNA gets more sophisticated every year.

[LouieFisk]

“Third Cousin Earl, Great Aunt Sally and the nephew you have submit their DNA to 23 and Me and the next thing you know, you are doing 23 to life. (Not You, but some criminal)”
—
If he’s not smart enough to avoid leaving DNA at the scene, he’s doing time. Lends itself to more of the spur of the moment and sloppy bad guy type crimes than premeditated, well thought out ones.

[eldoradude]

Yes you should. DNA testing is not perfect.

Interesting paper on forensic error rates with DNA testing and the legal system:

The Potential for Error in Forensic DNA Testing (and How That Complicates the Use of DNA Databases for Criminal Identification)

[leftcoaster]

Just wait until your insurance company decides to pay for your DNA and kick you off because those with certain markers are prone to xyz disease.

**************

This.

I want control of my private information. I don’t want anything out there under the control of some other entity who may be able to use knowledge of me against me at some future time.

[mrsmith]

Record everything everyone does and have the social media/tech companies devise an AI that will create a new legal system that will make more people happy.

The Constitution and Common Law are so pre-tech!
It’s a brave new world now and we need brave new laws.

[YogicCowboy]

Just like firearms databases.

[YogicCowboy]

A) Anything can be misused or abused. It need not even be intentional.

B) That is the same argument used to validate the anti-Patriot Act.

[Colinsky]

Also, everyone should be required, or at least strongly encouraged, to video tape their entire lives and upload the recordings on a continuous basis to the cloud for current or future viewing by the appropriate authorities.

Then, when laws are changed, the authorities will be able to convict you of doing things that were legal in the past when you did them but have now been retroactively forbidden.

[OldSmaj]

He was an evil bastard...and deserves the full impact of the Judicial System's iron fist.

However...I cannot help but feel that this DNA thing is an unwelcome intrusion into our lives.

What if...an insurance company "discovered" via DNA triangulation that a particular family was very susceptible to some sort of costly disease that kicks in around middle age (heart disease, maybe?) and began to raise premiums based on what they found in said triangulation findings?

I suspect something similar is already occurring...it just hasn't hit the responsible media yet.

It's one thing to find your relatives via DNA, it's another to have that relative adversely effected by the findings, without them having given permission for sharing the findings.

An interesting legal question...one that will eventually rear it's ugly head.

Do not misconstrue anything I've written to be a defense for this murderous monster...it is not...I just find it interesting from a Constitutional aspect.

[ro_dreaming]

Sarcasm, right?

We are to be secure in our persons, which include DNA.

I know many who have done it, and I know the government has my DNA already from my service in the Navy, but it’s a very slippery slope to invasion of privacy.

[Chainmail]

Well, that took some of the wind out of my sails...

Thanks for the educational links.

[GnuThere]

Sorry, I had to laugh at that...

[Secret Agent Man]

Yup, or that no one has ever planted dna evidence like stolen hair or blod from a lab to frame someone. Ever.

[Secret Agent Man]

Thank you. Peoplethink dna testing is infallible. It is not.

I think people forget that people,in the labs can and will do terrible things. That female lab tech Annie Dookhan for one. 60000 samples affecting tens of thousands of peoples court cases.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/annie-dookhan-chemist-at-mass-crime-lab-arrested-for-allegedly-mishandling-over-60000-samples/

[Ransomed]

Yeah but to my understanding this is individuals giving their own DNA to other individuals, and then those people choose to share their analysis with the cops, or anyone who might be trying to catch a monster. How do we stop that constitutionally?

And yes you are completely correct in that the potential for abuse in this matter is vast—but if you ran an insurance company should you be forced to insure someone you know is too great a risk?

Freegards

[piasa]

Kind of like the old photo id for everyone’s file scheme known as “school photos” and yearbooks.

[luvbach1]

Request an answer from someone who knows: Can DNA analysis really come up with accurate percentages of your various ethnicities? I’ve had my doubts about that.