Ontario’s privacy commissioner has issued a list of guidelines for police’s use of DNA to track down criminals using a method called investigative genetic genealogy.
The commissioner, Patricia Kosseim, said the tracking down of suspects through DNA and hereditary research raises privacy and human rights concerns. She has offered a list of 12 guidelines, called “guardrails,” that police forces can use to guide the process until legislation catches up.
Investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) is a method police forces use that involves collecting DNA from a crime scene and then using it to track down family members with the DNA, until they are able to narrow it down to the suspect. It’s a practice that is sometimes used when there are no DNA matches in the national DNA bank….