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Ideas and Opinions |4 September 2018

Is It Ethical to Use Genealogy Data to Solve Crimes?

Benjamin E. Berkman, JD, MPH; Wynter K. Miller, JD; Christine Grady, RN, PhD

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
This article was published at Annals.org on 29 May 2018.
  • National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (B.E.B., W.K.M., C.G.)

    Disclaimer: The views herein are those of the authors and do not represent the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services or the National Institutes of Health.

    Financial Support: By the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program (National Human Genome Research Institute and Clinical Center).

    Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M18-1348.

    Corresponding Author: Benjamin E. Berkman, JD, MPH, Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Suite 1C118, Bethesda, MD 20892; e-mail, berkmanbe@mail.nih.gov.

    Current Author Addresses: Mr. Berkman, Ms. Miller, and Dr. Grady: Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Suite 1C118, Bethesda, MD 20892.

    Author Contributions: Conception and design: B.E. Berkman, W.K. Miller, C. Grady.

    Drafting of the article: B.E. Berkman, W.K. Miller.

    Critical revision for important intellectual content: B.E. Berkman, W.K. Miller, C. Grady.

    Final approval of the article: B.E. Berkman, W.K. Miller, C. Grady.

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Authorities recently arrested the suspected Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized California decades ago. Armed with DNA from several crime scenes, the police cracked this cold case using a new resource: online genealogy data. Although criminal investigators have long used DNA analysis, this case is notable because the implicating genetic information was not obtained from a forensic resource created specifically for criminal justice purposes. Since the excitement of solving this infamous case subsided, public conversation increasingly has become focused on the ethics of using genealogy data for crime solving. Ethics discussions should include 3 interrelated topics: informed consent, privacy, and justice.
Despite the popularity of online genealogy services, it is unclear whether users of these sites understand that their genetic data are available to criminal investigators. Many companies do not inform users that their information may be subject to forensic analysis. Others mention it in their terms of service, but whether users internalize (or even read) these documents is in considerable doubt (1).
Although everyone should generally understand and agree to the potential uses of their personal data, how specific their consent should be remains unresolved. In biomedical research, substantial support exists for allowing broad consent (2); evidence suggests that people want researchers to ask permission to use their materials but are comfortable with wide-ranging use thereafter (3). A distinction exists, however, between biomedical research and forensics. A person giving broad consent to future biomedical research has a basic understanding...
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Berkman BE, Miller WK, Grady C. Is It Ethical to Use Genealogy Data to Solve Crimes?. Ann Intern Med. [Epub ahead of print 29 May 2018]169:333–334. doi: 10.7326/M18-1348

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 2018;169(5):333-334.

DOI: 10.7326/M18-1348

Published at www.annals.org on 29 May 2018

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