Megalith
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- Aug 20, 2006
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The FBI using DNA to solve violent crimes isn’t new, but the fact a private company has opened its doors to the agency is: Family Tree DNA, “one of the largest private genetic testing companies whose home-testing kits enable people to trace their ancestry and locate relatives,” has reportedly given Feds “access to more than a million DNA profiles.” Family Tree DNA’s website offers the following commitment: “We won’t share your DNA: We believe your DNA belongs to YOU and only you…period. For that reason, we will never sell your DNA to third parties. Can the other guys say that?”
The Family Tree database is free to access and can be used by anyone with a DNA profile to upload, not just paying customers. For detectives across the country desperate for leads, investigative genealogy has become the newest frontier for law enforcement agencies. By uploading DNA collected from a crime scene to genealogy databases, detectives have been able to locate distant relatives of suspected serial killers and rapists. Then, assembling a genealogical tree from that information, they have worked to identify suspects of crimes.
The Family Tree database is free to access and can be used by anyone with a DNA profile to upload, not just paying customers. For detectives across the country desperate for leads, investigative genealogy has become the newest frontier for law enforcement agencies. By uploading DNA collected from a crime scene to genealogy databases, detectives have been able to locate distant relatives of suspected serial killers and rapists. Then, assembling a genealogical tree from that information, they have worked to identify suspects of crimes.