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from the privacy-policies-are-for-suckers dept.
Submitted via IRC for chromas
FamilyTreeDNA Deputizes Itself, Starts Pitching DNA Matching Services To Law Enforcement
One DNA-matching company has decided it's going to corner an under-served market: US law enforcement. FamilyTreeDNA -- last seen here opening up its database to the FBI without informing its users first -- is actively pitching its services to law enforcement.
The television spot, to air in San Diego first, asks anyone who has had a direct-to-consumer DNA test from another company, like 23andMe or Ancestry.com, to upload a copy so that law enforcement can spot any connections to DNA found at crime scenes.
The advertisement features Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart, a Salt Lake City teen who was abducted in 2002 but later found alive. “If you are one of the millions of people who have taken a DNA test, your help can provide the missing link,” he says in the spot.
Welcome to FamilyTreeDNA's cooperating witness program -- one it profits from by selling information customers give it to law enforcement. The tug at the heartstrings is a nice touch. FamilyTreeDNA is finally being upfront with users about its intentions for their DNA samples. This is due to its founder deciding -- without consulting his customers -- that they're all as willing as he is to convert your DNA samples into public goods.
Bennett Greenspan, the firm’s founder, said he had decided he had a moral obligation to help solve old murders and rapes. Now he thinks that customers will agree and make their DNA available specifically to help out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @10:50AM (1 child)
What can you do if the hospital steals a sample of your baby's blood?
https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/twila-brase/moms-govt-collecting-your-babys-dna-without-your-consent [cnsnews.com]
https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/files/attachments/newborn_screening_guidlines_2015.pdf [nsw.gov.au]
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-biobank-dna-babies-who-has-access/ [cbsnews.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 06 2019, @12:41AM
you're not supposed to be having babies at the hospital. that's where they register the new slaves.