DNA and law enforcement are in the news ... again. With news services/companies interviewing a variety of people who may or may not know a great deal about genetic genealogy. It is almost guaranteed to be part of the conversations when genealogists (from experienced to beginner) gather in-person or online.
The informed genealogist often will talk back to the screen when the interviewee misspeaks or is uninformed about the topic naming a DNA/genealogy company that does the opposite of what they just said. Similar to how many of us talk back to the screen during our various favorite genealogy TV shows when something is said, implied or glanced over and the talk-backer knows the reality/truth whichever it might be.
From prior information we know GEDmatch (owned by for-profit Verogen, Inc. for a few years) and FamilyTreeDNA are the two genealogy/DNA companies that allow law enforcement to upload genetic information of CERTAIN crime victims or criminals to their DNA matching databases. Non-law enforcement test submitters (the original customers) of these website companies have the option to opt-in or opt-out for each of their tests for allowing law enforcement/law enforcement third-party managed kits to see or not see their test among the DNA matches if they match. At one of these companies, there is no way to opt out of all law enforcement matching.
By CERTAIN crime victims or criminals, generally this is meant as a deceased individual or to identify the perpetrator of a homicide or sexual assault.
The DNA Geek blog reported back in May 2018 on the use of DNA databases by law enforcement. This was after incidents at GedMatch and just prior to FamilyTreeDNA making privacy policy (and law enforcement use) changes without properly notifying customers of the change prior to the change in policy.
Until the more experienced DNA/Genealogy people update what we know about law enforcement being able to use which databases, etc. here are some links to learn about some of this yourself.
AncestryDNA
Ancestry releases a transparency report about every six months with the latest released in September covering January to June of 2022. Links to prior reports are listed at the bottom of the webpage. This report and other information can be found on Ancestry's privacy and philosophy page.
Ancestry has a page set up for law enforcement. Specifically it says:
Requests for Ancestry User Information
Ancestry does not voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement. To provide our Users with the greatest protection under the law, we require all government agencies seeking access to Ancestry customers’ data to follow valid legal process and do not allow law enforcement to use Ancestry’s services to investigate crimes or to identify human remains.
[Note: Italic emphasis is ours not Ancestry's.]
This is not to say that these genetic or forensic genetic genealogy researchers don't use the information learned from where they do have DNA access to do research using these other websites with genealogy documents and family trees.
MyHeritage DNAMyHeritage is a foreign (Israel) company but their DNA test processing is done in Texas (at FamilyTreeDNA.) MyHeritage in its posted Privacy Policy says that it does not let law enforcement use its DNA services. The privacy policy was updated in November 2022. The Legal Genealogist aka Judy Russell wrote about this highlighting the plain language in the policy back in July 2021.
LivingDNA
LivingDNA is another foreign (England) company that has processing labs in the USA and Europe. Until recently its DNA matching service was not active. LivingDNA's privacy policy is dated as of 2019.
Under Part C: sharing your information, under 3. The Legal Process it says:
There are circumstances in which we may be legally required to disclose information. Examples of this include where we are subject to a binding court order, subpoena, or a legally binding direction by a regulator, and where we are required to share information with HM Revenue and Customs. We reserve the right to share personal information where we reasonably believe that we are legally required to do so. We will not share your personal information with law enforcement agencies unless we believe that we are legally compelled to do so. We may also share information where this is necessary for us to exercise or enforce our rights under our Terms or otherwise at law, or where we reasonably and in good faith consider it necessary or appropriate to do so in order to protect the security of our site, customers or employees.
The section goes on to say:
We may share anonymous data with third parties including for research purposes where customers have opted in to take part in our research initiatives. This is data which combines data from a pool of customers. We will only do this where no person can be identified from this data. If we share this ‘aggregate’ data, we do not ever receive a payment for the data. We do not sell customer data, ever.
As a reminder: Be further informed ... read these privacy policies yourself.
23andMe
23andMe releases a transparency report quarterly. which indicates the number of requests by location. It does not seem to say as much as Ancestry's report revealing the type of request but they appear to have not produced any information.
The 23andMe Privacy Policy was recently updated in December 2022. There is a segmented view of the policy here, selecting data sharing will yield a few informational bubbles. The last bubble, "Third parties related to law, harm, and the public interest" which starts off with: "We can’t say it enough – 23andMe will not provide information to law enforcement unless required by law to comply with a valid court order, subpoena, or search warrant..."
FamilyTreeDNA
As we mentioned above, Family Tree DNA is one of the DNA/genealogy companies that allows law enforcement or their third-party genetic researcher contractors to upload genetic information to its DNA database. FTDNA had some issues a few years ago when it was learned by customers that it had been allowing law enforcement to upload information and use the database without changing the posted policy or notifying its customers of the change in policy before the policy went into effect nor giving customers the ability to consent or not consent -- essentially someone else making the decision for those that tested. Eventually FTDNA updated its privacy policy after the fact and created a opt-out option (which is criticized because deceased testers can't opt-out unless someone else is managing that test after the tester is deceased.)
FTDNA's current privacy policy is as of Feburary 2022. Look under Section 5 How FamilyTreeDNA shares your information. Also look at subsection E. Investigative Genetic Genealogy Matching (IGGM) for more details. If you agree to see your DNA Matches but the tester of the kit you manage (yourself or another person) does not want law enforcement to see his/her kit, you must take the steps to do the Opt-Out option. If the tester of a kit you manage is deceased and this situation was not discussed, ethically you must opt-out that tester from matching law enforcement.
GEDmatch
GEDmatch, a third-party online service to compare autosomal DNA data files from different testing companies, has gone through some changes both before and after its purchase in December 2019 by Veroge, Inc. (a sequencing company dedicated to forensic science.) GEDmatchPro went live in December 2020 "focuses on solving crimes using more than 1.2 million DNA profiles hosted on GEDmatch's platorm," according to Wikipedia.
GEDmatch allows an optional alias for each kit uploaded. Using an alias means other users (matches) won't see the tester's name. For privacy concerns it is suggested to create/use an anonymous email address (one with no identifying information.)
There are four privacy options at GEDmatch.
Public Opt-In compares the DNA kit to all other kits in the GEDmatch database, including kits submitted by law enforcement to identify unidentified human remains and to identify perpetrators of violent crimes.
Public Opt-Out compares the DNA kit to all other kits in the GEDmatch database, including kits submitted by law enforcement to identify unidentified human remains. The kit will not be compared with kits submitted by law enforcement to identify perpetrators of violent crimes.
Private kits will not be available for any matching. The kit will be in the database and will be batch processed by no comparison results will be shown unless this privacy setting is changed by the owner/administrator/manager of the kit.
Research option kits will not be shown in match result reports generated for other kits. Genealogy and Genetic Genealogy require the sharing of information. This option is provided primarily for artificially created research kits but may be used for regular uploads if you have specific reasons for doing so.
That last part of the Research option sounds ominous but there are legit reasons to use this option. For example, a kit for a deceased tester whom the law enforcement situation was never discussed to learn the deceased tester's opinion/decision on the topic. Or, for a tester whose kit you administer (or yourself) who disagrees for whatever reason and does not want to share his/her kit with law enforcement.
Regardless, these privacy options can be changed and changed back as needed if needed.
GEDmatch's privacy policy can be found here.
Other DNA Related Things to Keep in Mind
Just about each Spring, The DNA Geek releases a chart on the estimated size of each DNA/Genealogy testing company. The latest being from March 2022. Sometimes the estimates come from statements directly from the companies themselves. Sometimes it is estimates estimated by someone else. These are nice numbers to know: how big is the DNA match pool in which you are fishing.
DNA testing can be costly. Always try to get an autosomal DNA test on sale. (Holiday sales are ending soon from some companies so keep that in mind.) If time is a priority, you will be surprised on what local stores you may find these DNA/genealogy testings kits -- though they might not be on sale. To help save money it is often suggested start with an AncestryDNA test and then transfer/upload the kit data to the companies that take transfers: FamilyTree DNA, MyHeritageDNA and LivingDNA. 23andMe does not take transfers so you have to test directly with them. 23andMe has a health focus, but it is the second biggest DNA match pool out there.
If you need Y-DNA (direct male) or mtDNA (direct female) DNA tested and the ability to see matches, etc., you need to test directly with FamilyTree DNA which is the only DNA/genealogy testing company that tests Y-DNA and mtDNA. Both 23andMe and LivingDNA will give you a peek at the tester's Y-haplogroup (if male) and mt-haplogroup but not comparable matches.
And keep an eye out around RootsTech conference time, for the last few years MyHeritageDNA has had a "grandfathered in" sale with free DNA transfers that are grandfathered-in so no unlock fee or data subscription is needed to use all the DNA tools/features. (Data subscription is still required to see the records data.) Let's hope they run this sale again.
Hope this helps you with your and/or your family's DNA testing for genealogy decisions.
See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE
