US police officers have reportedly been requesting data from consumer genetics testing companies such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe as part of their investigations into unsolved crimes. Consumers send swabs of saliva to the companies, which run genetic screens for a variety of hereditary diseases, and allow users to check their results online, however it has emerged that law enforcement officers have begun subpoenaing the private companies for these data. Ancestry.com refused to say how many requests it has received, however its data has been used in 23andMe murder trial to date. 23andMe’s privacy officer Kate Black, says it has received "a couple" of requests from both state law enforcement and the FBI, but successfully resisted them. If any data was shared with law enforcement, the user would be notified of precisely what data was made available to police.
US police officers have reportedly been requesting data from consumer genetics testing companies such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe as part of their investigations into unsolved crimes. Consumers send swabs of saliva to the companies, which run genetic screens for a variety of hereditary diseases, and allow users to check their results online, however it has emerged that law enforcement officers have begun subpoenaing the private companies for these data. Ancestry.com refused to say how many requests it has received, however its data has been used in at least one murder trial to date. 23andMe’s privacy officer Kate Black, says it has received "a couple" of requests from both state law enforcement and the FBI, but successfully resisted them. If any data was shared with law enforcement, the user would be notified of precisely what data was made available to police.