this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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Many of my friends and family sent their DNA away to these outfits. Early on I just ruled it out as I heard they were able to link cold cases to people in these databases. Combine that with the grave miscarriages of justice when they railroad people into convictions my "I haven't done anything to worry about" still did not want to be a part of that machine.
I didn't even think of this reality which is pretty bad. I'm glad I didn't sign up despite some interest in knowing more about my fractured family connections.
They don't need your DNA to connect you to solve a cold case. They determine we shares tiny chunks of DNA with a sample from a crime. With that, they find the family tree of the known person and can often determine who the guilty party is.
As in they know the suspect shares a paternal great grandfather with this person and a maternal great great grandmother with that person so we know it's one of these people. Then the police collect trash to find who from the limited pool the crime DNA belongs to.
That’s some Minority Report type shit, scary stuff.
Collecting evidence after a crime is the opposite of Minority Report.