Documentation confirmed that a Pennsylvania court provided law enforcement officers access to Ancestry.com database via a warrant. For those that don’t know what ancestry.com is, it’s one of the world’s largest online family history resources. Ancestry uses DNA science and online family history to determine who a person’s family is and to help find long, lost family members.
Ancestry.com Transparency Report
Every year Ancestry.com issues a transparent report that addresses all requests to Ancestry brands. Ancestry requires valid legal processes to produce information about members in their database. Maybe this is why Ancestory.com has been refusing to comply with court orders for to release their DNA records. This could only mean that the requests from law enforcement aren’t conducive to their Privacy Statement.
According to Ancestry’s transparency reports in 2019, they only received nine valid law enforcement requests for user information. They only provided information about six of those requests.
Eight requests were related to credit card misuse, fraud, and identity theft.
In one request the courts issued a warrant for access to Ancestry’s DNA database. However, Ancestry.com challenged the warrant on jurisdictional grounds. In the end, Ancestry did not release any customer data/information.
I’m not sure how to feel about that. A search warrant means typically that law enforcement has a reason to believe that there is evidence to obtain. Do you mean to tell me the only thing holding law enforcement from probably making an arrest was the geographic area? How sway?
LOL, our judicial systems never seems to disappoint huh? But, believe it or not Ancestry.com has laid is all out in their Ancestry Guide for Law Enforcement.
Search Warrants don’t Warrant Anything
I’m not sure if this is over as of yet. However, Ancestry.com has stated that they will continue to defend their customers’ genetic privacy. As well as continue to combat any efforts made to release any portion of their 10 million DNA profile databases.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad. Maybe it’s a little bit of both. It could be a good thing because DNA profiles are helping police crack cold cases. But it could be bad because it; s probably violating rights that these donors have. This is perhaps another reason Ancestory.com fights so hard to protect its DNA profiles/customers.
I’m thinking that in the future the courts will make it harder for companies like Ancestry.com to fight their antics. Especially with more and more members of law enforcement are starting to use private DNA profile companies to crack their cases.
Do you think they should automatically hand over their DNA profiles when the courts issue a warrant?
Do you think law enforcement using DNA databases from private companies are helpful or an invasion of privacy?
We’d love to hear your thought drop your comments below!
Until next time.
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