1. If you’ve ever had the feeling that not everything is OK with consumer DNA testing...brace yourself White man
..it’s a lot worse than you think.
..it’s a lot worse than you think.
2. Forensic technology can now track DNA samples to you in ways you can’t possibly control. About 6 years ago, law enforcement began actively borrowing techniques utilized by genetic genealogy to identify unknown samples recovered from crime scenes.
3. The popularity of direct-to-consumer DNA tests (DTCs) has been disproportionately high among Northwest Europeans and while these samples remain “mostly” private within DTCs, a study published last November (and highlighted in the NYT) by Erlich et al. (2018) (n=600,000)
4. found that DNA code files have begun to leak out through customer-initiated uploads to public access databases such as GEDmatch and DNA.Land. This trend has created a limited genetic blue print of about 60% of our ethnic group science.sciencemag.org/content/362/64…
5. which can be cataloged and tracked electronically through a process called Identity-by-Descent (IBD). IBD isolates autosomal DNA segments from a single distant ancestor that have been dispersed through descending family lineages and shared in common between thousands of
6. cousins in the present day. Software features DTCs use to allow customers to see genetic connections to family members are powered by IBD algorithms. Genetic distance between those family members is measured in centimorgans (cM). IBD can reliably track distances as low as 30cM
7. Barabara Rae-Venter became famous by using forensic genealogy to identify the “Golden State Killer” suspect Joseph DeAngelo who was charged last year. She used GEDmatch and other public tools to identify family members connected to cold case DNA samples.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl…
8. Near the end of last year FamilyTree DNA had been encountering some unusually coded uploads so the company emailed the origin account. Shortly after, they got a call from the FBI who it seemed had been mining the public portion of the company’s database to gain
9. access to uploaded Ancestry and 23andMe code files. FTDNA was given a hard choice – either cooperate and try to minimize an invasive legal scrutiny of its customer’s DNA files, or risk being buried in a never-ending succession of subpoenas and legal fees courtesy of the DOJ.
10. Realizing the FBI already had partial access to customer uploads, the company relented and publicly acknowledged cooperation in January. The old forensic techniques the FBI used to conduct familial searches (~20 autosomal STRs) are not sufficient for IBD, whereas..
11. DTC tests provide ~700,000 SNPs and extend IBD to fourth cousins. It seems the FBI is trying to copy “the world” by hoarding data files from DTCs and open databases then adding them to their CODIS database which is probably stovepiped to US intelligence agencies.
12. In 2017 Trump signed the Rapid DNA Act into law which takes effect this year and will require several states to connect Rapid DNA machines to CODIS.
13. These machines are portable, about the size of a microwave, and can process samples in about 2 hours versus a lab turnaround of days or weeks. ICE and CPB have begun using them to test parent-child connections with families that show up at the border.
14. In conclusion, we face an inescapable problem – our entire ethnic group is now forensically compromised due to a loss of genetic anonymity. Erlich et al. calculated that only 2% of an ethnic population needs to be catalogued in a DNA database before 90-99% of that population
15. can be accessed via forensic genealogy. Whites are expected to reach this threshold by 2021. It’s important to understand that refraining from DTC testing will not protect your DNA privacy ..something you may wanna consider when pondering your next capital crime.🛑
