What's Next: Pushing Back Against The Long Arm of the Law Over DNA + SEC Finally Issues Its Securities Guidance
The nature of how DNA works is raising privacy questions about opt-in/opt-out policies at some online websites.
April 10, 2019 at 07:30 AM
11 minute read
Welcome back for another week of What's Next, where we report on the intersection of law and technology. Today, we look at how the FBI's use of an online genealogy research website has raised a host of concerns over DNA privacy, and what's being done to address it. We also have an update on last week's Q&A with Fenwick & West's Mike Dicke since the SEC issued its securities guidelines mere hours after we sent the newsletter. We also have a look at the techie hiring trends in the legal field.
|DNA Dilemmas
My fiancée watches a lot of the Investigation Discovery channel, so I've seen plenty about how DNA has opened up a whole new world of solving cold cases and finding justice. But in an increasingly privacy-conscious world, using DNA as evidence could have long-lasting ramifications—not just for individuals themselves, but for the family they share DNA with.
This has raised a host of privacy concerns over genetic data. In one particular case, the FBI uploaded genetic information from a cold case to genealogy research site FamilyTreeDNA—unbeknownst to the company—and was able to find a family connection to a previously unidentified body. Now, after finding out, the company requires law enforcement to register and provide documentation related to the nature of the case, which must constitute either a sexual assault or homicide.
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