* Repercussions of publishing DNA on Genealogy sites

[jbtapscott]

Interesting article in The Times today. In the 1970's and 80's a man "raped, murdered and abducted his way across California" and was never caught.

Last year investigators took a new look at the crimes and, as part of this, uploaded the suspects DNA to a genealogy database. There they identified a number people who shared great-great-grandparents with the suspect and, after building a family tree, they used a triangulation methodology to narrow it down to a couple of suspects. Subsequent investigations identified a single exact match and that man (a former police officer!) has now been charged and is awaiting trial.

All this as a result of a couple of third cousins tracing their family tree!!. Although leading UK genealogists say this technique has not, as far as they know, been used in the UK yet, it is only a matter of time as, currently, there is no legislation here that would prevent authorities in the UK carrying our similar research.

[ColeValleyGirl]

There was quite a lot of discussion about that when it first hit the news in April last year -- see this roundup of links.