NO ONE can be truly anonymous as DNA tests like Ancestry and 23andMe destroy privacy, experts warn
- Experts gathered to discuss the spread of kits that collect, analyse and alter DNA
- Professionals say the technology marks the start of a slippery slope legally
- They worry that genetic genealogy will be used to investigate less serious crime
- It may pave the way for private genetic information being routinely made public
The popularity of gene testing kits and the prominence of genetic analysis is intruding on privacy and means true anonymity may be a luxury afforded to nobody, experts claim.
A panel of leading minds gathered at Harvard Law School earlier this month to discuss the ramifications of the spread of technologies that collect and analyse DNA.
DNA is scrutinised at home, with kits like AncestryDNA, 23andMe and a host of other firms now offering to dissect your genetic code for a fee.
They warned of the dangers of genetic snooping becoming the new way to invade privacy and how a person’s identity can now be pieced together with relative ease.
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A group of medical researchers have proposed that the best way to protect genetic information is for more people to deposit their DNA into a larger database. Many people are concerned about the privacy of their data gathered by genetic-testing websites (stock image)
The panel questioned how the public would react, for example, if hearing that a candidate has genes linked to risk-taking or schizophrenia, even though having a gene for a condition doesn’t necessarily mean you will develop it.
They also considered issues that affect ordinary people, including the erosion of anonymity, particularly when it comes to sperm donation.
DNA analysis also has the potential to pave the way for the extremely private genetic information of high profile people routinely making its way into the public domain.
That may include anyone from celebrities, royals and other public figures, to political candidates and even potential prime ministers and presidents being exposed on a previously unfathomable scale.
DNA analysis was used to catch the Golden State Killer, a serial murderer who killed 13 people in California between the years 1974 to 1986.
He was caught, controversially, when investigators used DNA to search for possible suspects by using a genealogy website.
An old DNA sample from a crime scene matched with the DNA of the killer’s relatives in public databases which led to him.
While most would be happy to help track down a serial killer, there are concerns this could be just the beginning of police using commercial genetics services to investigate other, less serious crimes.
The team says that creating a giant database would enhance people’s protection by making the system more regulated. They say that having a bigger library would be more regulated and hold a more limited set of data than consumer testing reports (Stock image)
Professor Jessica Roberts of the University of Houston in Texas told New Scientist that the case of two feuding billionaires may put an end to the escalating issue.
Canadian businessman Harold Peerenboom and Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter have been feuding for years over the control of country club tennis courts.
This was fuelled by a subsequent hate mail campaign, which led Mr Peerenboom to suspect that Mr Perlmutter of being behind it.
To find out if this was the case, Mr Peerenboom worked with his lawyers to get a sample of Perlmutter’s DNA from a water bottle he used during a deposition.
The judge ruled that Mr Perlmutter had a reasonable right to assume his genetic information on the lip of a water bottle wouldn’t be surreptitiously swiped.
He also said that doing so deprived him of his ‘rights of ownership, possession, control, and privacy’, according to the case documents.
