If you were thinking of buying your loved ones a subscription to genetic analysis services at Ancestry.com or 23andMe this upcoming holiday season, you might want to add a few words of caution. Both companies use and store DNA submitted to establish genetic linkage to ancestors who lived hundreds of years ago, but also reserve the right to turn that DNA over to law enforcement under a court order, Fusion reported.
Ancestry.com and 23andMe assure customers their information is protected and secure but the law enforcement exemption, listed deep in the companies’ privacy policies, was first brought to light during an unsolved murder investigation that pointed to a New Orleans filmmaker whose DNA was obtained from Ancestry.com. Michael Usry became a prime suspect in the 1996 murder of a teen in Idaho Falls after the man convicted of the crime after a dubious confession was cleared from DNA analysis, Wired reported. Usry became a target after an Ancestry.com database search containing his father’s DNA narrowed the suspect pool to close relatives.
Usry was cleared but the case raises serious privacy concerns that a simple attempt to find one’s true ethnic origins could be used in a criminal investigation. Law enforcement agencies have previously relied on biometric databases, including the FBI’s National DNA Index System that holds fingerprints and DNA collected from convicted criminals and suspects, to solve open investigations.
DNA evidence has become the holy grail for law enforcement agents as a way of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and overturning wrongful convictions. But DNA testing isn’t perfect and, much like anything else, is susceptible to error, cross contamination, and manipulation.
But the issue with Ancestry and 23andMe is that there isn’t an expectation the information could potentially be used to establish wrongdoing much like how social media communications are used by law enforcement. 23andMe told Fusion that it was planning to issue a government request transparency report in the coming months, unveiling just how much local and federal agencies tap the company for DNA data and how often the requests are obliged.
So fa,r the requirement of a court order seems to stave off concerns of impropriety, but consumers buying subscriptions to trace their roots — particularly African Americans and other people with mixed ancestry who have been encouraged to use DNA services — should be aware of the company’s deletion policy. Ancestry and 23andMe honors requests to delete information.
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