From an article by Emily Mullin published in the Wired web site:

Police are hosting events to collect DNA samples that can help solve missing persons cases. But when people put their DNA in a commercial database, it can used for other purposes.

Earlier this month,, state police in Connecticut held a “DNA drive” in an effort to help identify human remains found in the state. Family members of missing people were invited to submit DNA samples to a government repository used to solve these types of cases, a commercial genetic database, or both, if they chose to.

Public agencies in other states have held similar donation drives, billed as a way to solve missing persons cases and get answers for families. But the drives also raise concerns about how donors’ genetic information could be used. Privacy and civil liberties experts warn that commercial DNA databases are used for purposes beyond identifying missing people, and that family members may not realize the risks of contributing to them. In fact, one drive planned in Massachusetts this summer was postponed because of concerns raised by the American Civil Liberties Union.

So far, most of these drives have been small. A half-dozen families showed up at the Connecticut event on September 16, which was sponsored by the University of New Haven, the Connecticut State Police, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and another state agency. Close relatives of missing people—their parents, siblings, and children—were invited to provide a genetic sample to the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS. A national database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it contains DNA profiles of convicted offenders, evidence from presumed perpetrators, and missing persons. CODIS allows investigators to compare a relative’s DNA profile to one in the database to look for a familial match, a process called genetic genealogy.

Free consumer genetic kits from FamilyTreeDNA were also distributed at the Connecticut event. Similar to its competitors 23andMe and AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA allows people to connect with long-lost relatives and explore their genealogy. It’s also used by police and nonprofit organizations to trace the family trees of missing people. That might yield connections to living relatives.

“This is a really powerful tool that can have a terrific impact and get closure for families and victims of homicides and sexual assaults,” says Claire Glynn, an associate professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven, who helped coordinate the event. She says genetic genealogy is useful in instances where a close family member hasn’t provided a sample to CODIS.

But genetic genealogy isn’t used by law enforcement only to identify missing persons and human remains. It is also widely used to identify suspects in investigations. Even if a suspect has not submitted their own genetic profile to a consumer site, investigators can infer biological relationships based on how much their DNA recovered at a crime scene matches that of other users. Police use that information, along with public records, to build out a suspect’s family tree and narrow down their identity.

You can read the full article at: https://www.wired.com/story/dna-drives-help-identify-missing-people-its-a-privacy-nightmare/.