Verogen is a company that sells DNA sequences to police states…I mean police agencies for the purpose of “catching criminals”. Verogen just bought GEDmatch, one of the biggest DNA ancestry companies, and intend to use people’s DNA for purposes that people never consented to.
Selling your DNA to the swine and governments was always the goal, suckers.
The transformation of genetic genealogy from a geeky pastime to a crime-fighting business opportunity has taken another leap forward.
Verogen, a San Diego-based company that provides equipment for high-tech sequencing of crime-scene DNA, today announced that it had acquired GEDmatch, a website that rose to fame after it led cops to the alleged Golden State Killer.
[…]
Although GEDmatch’s new owner is a forensic science company, it is promising a firm line on protecting users who don’t want cops to access their genetic information. “We are very committed to privacy,” Verogen CEO Brett Williams told BuzzFeed News.
Call me untrusting, but I’m untrusting of any company that gleefully works with cops.
You don’t have to be paranoid to see how easily this can be misused. Just look at how willing cops are to misuse anything now.
1) Cops check a DNA sample in a database, find a match to a genetic cousin of John Smith.
2) Cops show up at John Smith’s door, demanding a full list of his cousin’s or cousins’ whereabouts.
3) John Smith either doesn’t know or refuses because he is not involved in the crime.
4) Cops falsely arrest John Smith and overcharge him (e.g. “conspiracy”, “obstruction”, etc.) and possibly perpetrate theft of his home via “property seizure” laws, of the relative was involved in a crime that allowed property seizure.
If GEDmatch or other companies had no intent of giving your DNA to oppressive agencies, they would have destroyed the samples and DNA sequences after collection. Or, they would have used a “blind” system where the DNA cannot be directly connected to a name.