Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T15:56:34.692Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Data Protection Implications of Forensic Genealogy

A Close Look at the Use of Forensic Genealogy in Solving a Double Murder in Sweden

from Part IV - Balancing Regulation, Innovation and Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2022

Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Michael Lowery Wilson
Affiliation:
University of Turku, Finland
Mark Fenwick
Affiliation:
Kyushu University, Japan
Nikolaus Forgó
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
Till Bärnighausen
Affiliation:
Universität Heidelberg
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines law enforcement authorities’ growing interest in using DTC genetic test providers’ databases for solving crime. The chapter discusses the legal avenues the Swedish police authority took in their use of GEDmatch to resolve a 16-year-old double murder, discussing the legal prerequisites for such access and use as well as embarking on a exploration of the possibility of relying on the derogation of special categories of personal data being manifestly made public by the data subject and weighing possible amendments to the existing legal landscape.

Type
Chapter
Information
AI in eHealth
Human Autonomy, Data Governance and Privacy in Healthcare
, pp. 401 - 422
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

23andMe, ‘Privacy Highlights’, www.23andme.com/en-eu/about/privacy/, accessed 19 July 2020. Ancestry, ‘Ancestry Transparency Report’ version 10, July 2020, www.ancestry.com/cs/transparency, accessed 13 July.Google Scholar
Ancestry, ‘Your Privacy’, www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/privacystatement, accessed 19 July 2020.Google Scholar
Article 29 Working Party, ‘Opinion 4/2007 on the Concept of Personal Data Adopted on 20th June’ (WP 136), https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2007/wp136_en.pdfGoogle Scholar
Article 29 Working Party, ‘Opinion on Some Key Issues of the Law Enforcement Directive’ (EU 2016/680), Adopted on 29 November 2017 (WP 258), https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/items/610178Google Scholar
Bates, M, ‘Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing: Is the Public Ready for Simple, At-Home DNA Tests to Detect Disease Risk?’ (2018) 9(6) IEEE Pulse Pulse, IEEE 11–14.Google ScholarPubMed
Brantemo, A, ‘Linköpings Trauma: Dubbelmördaren höll sig undan i 16 år’ SVT nyheter, 1 October 2020, www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/ost/linkopings-trauma-daniel-nyqvist-gackade-polisen-i-16-ar, accessed 26 June 2021.Google Scholar
Dockser, AM, ‘Customers Handed Over Their DNA. The Company Let the FBI Take a Look’ Wall Street Journal, 22 August 2019, www.wsj.com/articles/customers-handed-over-their-dna-the-company-let-the-fbi-take-a-look-11566491162, accessed 25 July 2020.Google Scholar
Dove, ES and Chen, J, ‘What Does It Mean for a Data Subject to Make Their Personal Data “Manifestly Public?” An Analysis of GDPR Article 9(2)(e)’ (2021) 11(2) International Data Privacy Law ipab005, https://doi.org/10.1093/idpl/ipab005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, B and Snaprud, P, ‘Dna-tekniken som löser dubbelmordet i Linköping’ SVT Nyheter, 9 June 2020, www.svt.se/nyheter/vetenskap/dna-tekniken-som-kan-losa-dubbelmordet-i-linkoping, accessed 21 June 2020.Google Scholar
Esch-Leonhardt and Others v. ECB, T-320/02.Google Scholar
European Commission, ‘Data Protection’, Special Eurobarometer 431, June 2015, https://doi.org/10.2838/552336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Council of Europe, Handbook on European Data Protection Law (2018), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Council of Europe, Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
FamilyTreeDNA, ‘FamilyTreeDNA Privacy Statement’, www.familytreedna.com/legal/privacy-statement, accessed 19 July 2020.Google Scholar
Feltzmann, H, ‘“Just a Bit of Fun”: How Recreational is Direct-to-Customer Genetic Testing?’ (2015) 21(1) The New Bioethics 20–32, https://doi.org/10.1179/2050287715Z.00000000062.Google Scholar
Guest, C, ‘DNA and Law Enforcement: How the Use of Open-Source DNA Databases Violates Privacy Rights’ (2019) 68 (3) American University Law Review 1015–52.Google Scholar
Information Commissioner’s Office, ‘Special Categories of Personal Data, What Are the Conditions for Processing?’, https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/special-category-data/what-are-the-conditions-for-processing/#conditions5, accessed 25 June 2021.Google Scholar
Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, ‘Förhandssamråd enligt brottsdatalagen; användning av dna-baserade släktforskningsdatabaser’, reference number: DI-2021-1521.Google Scholar
Kalokairinou, L and others, ‘Legislation of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing in Europe: A Fragmented Regulatory Landscape’ (2018) 9(2) Journal of Community Genetics 117–32, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-017-0344-2.Google Scholar
Kennett, D, ‘Using Genetic Genealogy Databases in Missing Persons Cases and to Develop Suspect Leads in Violent Crimes’ (2019) 301 Forensic Science International 107–17, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.05.016.Google Scholar
Kolata, G and Murphy, H, ‘The Golden State Killer is Tracked Through a Thicket of DNA, and Experts Shudder’ The New York Times, 27 April 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/health/dna-privacy-golden-state-killer-genealogy.html, accessed 21 June 2020.Google Scholar
Mahmoud-Davis, SA, ‘Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: Empowering EU Consumers and Giving Meaning to the Informed Consent Process within the IVDR and GDPR Frameworks’ (2020) 19(1) Washington University Global Studies Law Review 1–52.Google Scholar
Marinova, P, ‘Ancestry CEO on Genetic Data Privacy: Consumers Need to Think About Who They Do Business With’ Fortune, 16 July 2019, https://fortune.com/2019/07/15/dna-testing-privacy-ancestry/, accessed 13 July 2020.Google Scholar
Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner C–362/14.Google Scholar
MyHeritage, ‘MyHeritage sekretesspolicy’, www.myheritage.com/privacy-policy?lang=SV, accessed 19 July 2020.Google Scholar
Nationellt Forensiskt Centrum, ‘DNA och biologi, faktablad – DNA-undersökning’, https://nfc.polisen.se/kriminalteknik/dna-och-biologi/, accessed 25 July 2020.Google Scholar
Nationellt Forensiskt Centrum, ‘Pilot: Dna-spår och släktforskning, användning av släktforskningsdatabaser I brottsutredande syfte’, reference number: A544.825/2020, https://polisen.se/aktuellt/nyheter/2020/november/dna-baserad-slaktforskning-kan-bli-nationellt-anvand-metod/Google Scholar
Polismyndigheten, ‘Begäran om förhandssamråd – Dna-spår och släktforskning för brottsutredande ändamål’, reference number: A071.932/2021.Google Scholar
Polismyndigheten, ‘Rättsutredning: Dna-spår och släktforskning’, reference number: A637.388/2018.Google Scholar
Swedish Government Bill, 2017/18:269, Criminal Data Act – complementary legislation (Sw. Brottsdatalagen – kompletterande lagstiftning), www.regeringen.se/49dff7/contentassets/560221d124cb46bda169c3e8f0eef2c5/prop-201718-269.pdfGoogle Scholar
TT, ‘Regeringen ska utreda släktforskningsmetoden’ Dagens Nyheter, 12 May 2021, www.dn.se31verigee/regeringen-ska-utreda-slaktforskningsmetoden/, accessed 26 June 2021.Google Scholar
Yaniv, E and others, ‘Identity Inference of Genomic Data Using Long-Range Familial Searches’ (2018) 362(6415) Science 690–94, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau4832Google Scholar
Zhang, S, ‘How a Genealogy Website Led to the Alleged Golden State Killer’ The Atlantic, 27 April 2018, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-dna-genealogy/559070/, accessed 12 June 2021.Google Scholar
Zhang, S, ‘How a Tiny Website Became the Police’s Go-To Genealogy Database’ The Atlantic, 1 June 2018, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/gedmatch-police-genealogy-database/561695/, accessed 25 July 2020.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×