HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

Finding people from remote relatives and medical inferences.

If someone has access to enough nicely distributed DNA samples they can correctly identify you from your DNA even if you are not in any database only based on your family tree.

Varitasium video for reference: https://youtu.be/KT18KJouHWg

This is generally time consuming and done to identify criminals but it is very simple.

DNA is a genie that's flown far and free from their bottle. Even if you are not in the system directly (from, say, 23&me, rape kits, arrests, etc), someone within 2-3 degrees of separation on your family tree is. It's enough for you to be identified in most cases.

If you haven't watched the video Veritasium did about the Golden State Killer, I highly recommend it. It details quite nicely how if anybody has your DNA sample, the police have access to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg

Bonus points for noticing how many of these company reps who tout "nothing to hide" like protecting their own privacy.

Except that this kind of person is related to other people who might have different views on such consent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg

If you don't like that, you're going to hate this.

https://youtu.be/KT18KJouHWg

Basically they can find you from your DNA, even if only a couple very distant relatives ever gave theirs.

Do they store the dna in a database that law enforcement could, perhaps with a subpoena, have access to?

Here's a video how law enforcement can get a match on a dna database through any of your relatives that did a dna test there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg

This kind of thing creates a chilling effect in which people avoid getting the medical help they need just to not contribute with a permanent genetic database. This kind of stuff is exactly why HIPAA exists.

Also: why did they give you a summary, but gave the doctors a full report? Could you get the full report if you asked them?

⬐ jdavis703

> why did they give you a summary, but gave the doctors a full report? Could you get the full report if you asked them?

If the tests aren’t FDA approved they probably don’t want to risk the regulatory ire that 23&Me encountered.

⬐ nextaccountic

But then why the doctors have access to it?

Weird, I just finished watching Veritasium's [1] latest video which featured the techniques for finding the Golden State Killer, and saw this one come across the feed.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg

⬐ nick_

Mr. Zodiac creates spooky mysteries even still...