DNA Match

I have recieved a DNA match and a contact from the owner also there is a GEDCOM file, I have checked all the names in the GEDCOM and no matches on my tree, where do I go from here. Thanks Marj Madden

MyHeritage Data Breach

Just read Roberta Estes’ post about MyHeritage Data Breach and the need to change your current password.  Instructions are included in the post.

MyHeritage Data Breach

 

 

The price of sharing

I believe that Judy Russell’s post today (about how our DNA can and might be used) should be read – and talked about. I’m all for DNA sharing that helps me find my relatives. I’m pleased that communal DNA databases can be used to identify unclaimed victims or to take a murderer off the streets but there are alternative possibilities that are starting to bother me, so personally I’d like to see (at the very least) a judge or somebody needing to grant a warrant to proceed in some cases.

I don’t know what is a good answer but I certainly hope that we don’t come to the situation where the only safe alternative is to stop sharing. Please read Judy’s post and start talking about it.

Kerry

Using DNA – Roberta Estes outlines the issues

One last post on the topic of the recent murder case in the USA. Roberta Estes goes through all the issues.  Make sure you read until the end where she has a great summary!   You can read the article here.

Finding unknown family

Kitty Cooper’s blog post yesterday was another in answer to the solving of the Golden State Killer via GEDmatch, however she also describes the techniques for eg adoptees (or anyone) looking to use DNA databases and traditional genealogy to find and identify someone.

I thought her description of the technique could be useful to many.

Kerry

Ethical concerns about use of DNA

Two blog posts that I think contribute to the discussion of the use of the GEDmatch database by law enforcement (to solve the Golden State Killer crimes) are Leah Larkin’s  and Judy Russell’s

Part of me applauds DNA being used to catch criminals and identify victims, but I also have concerns about people being less willing to share DNA information that may end up being used in unforeseen ways. The EU restrictions also impact the freedom we’ve enjoyed with the increasingly useful DNA databases.

As Judy Russell says

As with all of our research that discloses information about living people, the hallmark of ethical DNA testing is informed consent. People have to know (or at least have the opportunity to know) in advance what their test results may be used for. Nobody I know uploaded their data to GEDmatch knowing that it could be used by police to look for suspects in criminal cases.

…But allowing data from tests taken to reconnect families to be used without advance notice and informed consent for investigative purposes by law enforcement with the aim of finding the perpetrators of crime — a move guaranteed to shatter the families whose loved ones are accused because their DNA was used in those investigations — doesn’t sit well at all.

And it’s even more unsettling that this was done without a search warrant, without court approval, without oversight of any kind. There are laws in place in many states — including in California — that require the police to get court approval — a warrant, based on probable cause — even to search their own law enforcement databases when what they’re trying to do is find familial DNA (a link to the criminal through the use of the DNA of a family member).

Because some genealogical databases like GEDmatch are open to the public, it may be legal to search them for evidence in a criminal case… but what’s legal isn’t always what’s right.

GEDmatch and the Golden State Killer

It’s been fascinating to read that the San Francisco Police used GEDmatch to catch the Golden State Killer. They arrested a man last week accused of killing 12 people and raping 45 in the 1970s and 80s. Police constructed a raw DNA file that they uploaded onto GEDmatch. They identified a distant relative and used public records to construct the relative’s family tree. That helped them narrow down their suspects.

It’s left many of us genealogists pondering. On the one hand we like our family-friendly cyberspace to be free from Big Brother. On the other hand it makes sense that Police might use GEDmatch and public records to catch a heinous killer.

How detectives nabbed suspected Golden State Killer with genealogy site GEDmatch

We’re in a very connected world now. The access to DNA matches and pubic records that makes our family research easier also diminishes the anonymity of everyone.

Artifact testing for DNA coming soon

Living DNA soon to offer testing of artifacts (eg stamps and envelopes) for DNA. See this blog post by Denise Levenick.

Kerry

Mentors and Mentorees

Do you want to improve your genetic genealogy game?   Are you ready to start aggregating your DNA cousins in the search for shared-MRCA groups, triangulating HIRs, and phasing?  Or, can you help someone else improve their game?

Sign up for the SAG mentoring effort!  We’ll try to pair more-advanced users with those interested in taking their research to the next level.

We already have one partnership going and another mentor is ready to help someone in the New Year.  If you meet the criteria listed below it might be you!

• Have test results from AncestryDNA
• Have a tree based on traditional family history research that is back to grandparents at least, if known
• Tree is on ancestry.com.au or some other computer based platform
• Have completed the three SAG webinars
• Live on the lower North Shore

If you are interested in becoming a mentor or mentoree please introduce yourselves here outlining your needs and/or requirements.  Every partnership will be different depending on the needs of the ‘mentoree’ and the skills of the ‘mentor’.  If you are too shy, you can always send me a private message at genemonkey25@gmail.com, but do recognise that due to volume of email I receive there may be a delay getting back to you.

One final note, to keep this effort going there is an expectation that Mentorees will ‘give back’ by becoming mentors themselves in the future!

Adoptions & Birth Regos before adoption

How can one find out if a person was adopted before seeking ‘birth registrations before adoption’, which appears to be a lengthly and costly process?  With other assumed relatives, we’ve found no DNA (Y & autosomal) matches to a line of expected (2nd) cousins.  In investigating relevant birth registrations, we’ve come across a Queensland birth registration (pre1890) with the parents blanked out, yet (legal) parents names are given on the transcribed birth certificate!  Is this sufficient evidence to accept that this person was adopted and the biological parents are blanked out on the birth registration? Thanks for any help, Rob Spencer