4 ms·

Sometimes I feel like I'm too paranoid but then these things keep happening that seemed like they would happen years ago which uselessly vindicates my position.

Sometimes I feel like I'm too paranoid but then these things keep happening that seemed like they would happen years ago which uselessly vindicates my position. Is there some critical threshold where they have enough DNA data to track everyone not in the database? Maybe any amount is helpful since it narrows a pool down. Why do people keep giving out their information so freely?

rexpop 7y ago
We don't believe it could happen here.
runlevel1 7y ago
The recent use of DNA-based ancestry sites' genealogical data to solve cold cases would suggest we're not far off. [1]: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2167554-serial-killer-suspect-identified-using-dna-family-tree-website/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2167554-serial-killer-s... [2]: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/9kpnnz/linda-ann-okeefe-murder-suspect-arrest-dna https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/9kpnnz/linda-ann-okee... [3]: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/19/maine-man-accused-killing-young-woman-alaska-years-ago/auNFXwgMAsXMmwGGzDLY4H/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/19/maine-man-accus...
- astura 7y ago
  For white people, at least. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/golden-state-killer-genealogy/572545/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/golden-s... > Then the researchers built a model that predicted that a database needs to include only 2 percent of a population for 90 percent of the people to have a third-cousin match or closer in it. In other words, a database of just a few million people could be sufficient to track down nearly everyone in the United States....Another pattern jumped out in the MyHeritage data: People of primarily northern European ancestry were more likely to have matches than people of primarily sub-Saharan ancestry. This reflects the predominantly white customer base for MyHeritage and most other direct-to-consumer DNA tests. It also means that genetic-genealogy searches by law enforcement are, for now, more likely to succeed with people of European descent. These sorts of identifications actually require a lot of manual work by genetic genealogists tracing ancestry after a potential relative is found in a DNA database. For example, Barbara Rae-Venter lead a team of five people to identify the Golden State Killer. BTW, there's a handy Wikipedia page for a list of suspects identified using the GEDMatch database https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suspected_perpetrators_of_crimes_identified_with_GEDmatch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suspected_perpetrators...

rexpop 7y ago

We don't believe it could happen here.

runlevel1 7y ago

The recent use of DNA-based ancestry sites' genealogical data to solve cold cases would suggest we're not far off. [1]: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2167554-serial-killer-suspect-identified-using-dna-family-tree-website/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2167554-serial-killer-s... [2]: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/9kpnnz/linda-ann-okeefe-murder-suspect-arrest-dna https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/9kpnnz/linda-ann-okee... [3]: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/19/maine-man-accused-killing-young-woman-alaska-years-ago/auNFXwgMAsXMmwGGzDLY4H/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/19/maine-man-accus...

astura 7y ago
For white people, at least. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/golden-state-killer-genealogy/572545/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/golden-s... > Then the researchers built a model that predicted that a database needs to include only 2 percent of a population for 90 percent of the people to have a third-cousin match or closer in it. In other words, a database of just a few million people could be sufficient to track down nearly everyone in the United States....Another pattern jumped out in the MyHeritage data: People of primarily northern European ancestry were more likely to have matches than people of primarily sub-Saharan ancestry. This reflects the predominantly white customer base for MyHeritage and most other direct-to-consumer DNA tests. It also means that genetic-genealogy searches by law enforcement are, for now, more likely to succeed with people of European descent. These sorts of identifications actually require a lot of manual work by genetic genealogists tracing ancestry after a potential relative is found in a DNA database. For example, Barbara Rae-Venter lead a team of five people to identify the Golden State Killer. BTW, there's a handy Wikipedia page for a list of suspects identified using the GEDMatch database https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suspected_perpetrators_of_crimes_identified_with_GEDmatch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suspected_perpetrators...