Angela Chen reports:
At-home DNA testing site FamilyTreeDNA — which was widely criticized for working with the FBI without telling its customers — will now offer users the option to prevent law enforcement from accessing their data.
In January, BuzzFeed News reported that FamilyTreeDNA let law enforcement create profiles on the site using DNA from unsolved cases. The agencies then used those profiles to look for possible matches in the company’s genetic database. Now, users will be able to opt out of matching with accounts created for this purpose, FamilyTreeDNA said in an email, as first reported by New Scientist. Law enforcement will have to go through a special process to use the database, and customers that opt out will still be able to match with other non-law enforcement users on the site.
Read more on The Verge.
Ha, Ha, OMG this is too funny.
Does anyone really think DNA companies will honor a person’s request for them not to submit their DNA to law enforcement without their permission?
This story is nearly as believable as the one about the NSA no longer spying on domestic phone calls!
Please excuse me as I need to try and stop laughing.
“Law-enforcement agencies will now have to register under a special process to access the company’s matching service, FamilyTreeDNA said.”
I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the “special process” doesn’t involve a warrant.