The Golden State Killer Suspect's DNA Was in a Publicly Available Database, and Yours Might Be Too

Ah, those were simpler times.

The same kind thatyourrelatives may already be in.

Instead, lead investigator Paul Holessaid his team ran their filesthrough a public database calledGEDmatch.

And theyre not the only database that has helped law enforcement track people down without their knowledge.

But here are some things that are possible.

Y chromosome data can lead to a good guess at an unknown persons last name.

Cis men typically have an X and a Y chromosome, and cis women two Xs.

(23andme and Ancestry allow you to download your data, but they dont accept uploads.)

They found someone with enough of the same SNPs that they were probably a close cousin.

I have nothing to hide, you might tell yourself.

Who cares if somebody finds out that I have blue eyes or a predisposition to heart disease?

But half of your DNA belongs to your biological mother, and half to your biological father.

Another halfcut a different waybelongs to each of your children.

You share about an eighth with a first cousin, and so on.

For some cases, it may not matter whether your name is attached.

But your DNA is, in a sense, yourmostidentifying information.

For some cases, it may not matter whether your name is attached.

Facebookreportedly spoke with a hospital about exchanging anonymized data.

(Facebook doesnt currently collect DNA information, thank god.

And remember that 2013 study about tracking down peoples surnames?

It may beimpossible for DNA to be totally anonymous.

If youre very concerned about privacy, youre best off not using any of these databases.

Here are some steps that may help preserve some of your privacy:

Dont use your real name.

(Terms of service permitting, of course.)

Create a new email addressif you want people to be able to contact you.

Otherwise, your fake name isnt hiding much.

Set your data to private, or peek and then delete.

Then get out of there and cover your tracks.

Download your raw data and delete your account.

Consider which company you use.

Ancestryhanded over data for 31 of 34 law enforcement requests in 2017.

23andme says that they fight every request, and to date have not handed over anybodys data.

Im not saying Itrust23andme, but I know where Id rather mail my spit.

Update 4/27/2018 3:20pm: We originally wrote that police found the Golden State Killer.