What Are the Law Enforcement Implications of the GEDmatch Buyout?

GEDmatch is a free genetic genealogy database that allows people to upload their genomic data from direct-to-consumer (DTC) testing services such as 23andMe, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Family Tree DNA. It permits cross-company searches for possible relatives among those who elect to participate. To date, roughly 1.3 million people have uploaded their SNP array data to the service, and GEDmatch continues to add about 1,000 people daily. 1/ Scientists and genealogists working for law enforcement agencies have been able to locate the source of DNA evidence from unsolved crimes by discovering a possible relative who supplied his or her data to public kinship searching in GEDmatch. The result has been fluctuating policies with respect to police use of GEDmatch's haploblock-matching software and uploaded data to produce some leads. 2/

Last month (19 Dec, 2019), GEDmatch's founder sent the following email to its registered users:

To GEDmatch users,

As you may know, on December 9 we shared the news that GEDmatch has been purchased by Verogen, Inc., a forensic genomics company whose focus is human ID. This sale took place only because I know it is a big step forward for GEDmatch, its users, and the genetic genealogical community. Since the announcement, there has been speculation about a number of things, much of it unfounded.

There has been concern that law enforcement will have greater access to GEDmatch user information. The opposite is true. Verogen has firmly and repeatedly stated that it will fight all unauthorized law enforcement use and any warrants that may be issued. This is a stronger position than GEDmatch was previously able to implement.

...It has been reported on social media that there is a mass exodus of kits from the GEDmatch database. There has been a temporary drop in the database size only because privacy policies in place in the various countries where our users reside require citizens to specifically approve the transfer of their data to Verogen. As users grant permission, that data will again be visible on the site. We are proactively reaching out to these users to encourage them to consent to the transfer.

... Verogen recognizes that law enforcement use of genetic genealogy is here to stay and is in a better position to prevent abuses and protect privacy than GEDmatch ever could have done on its own.

Bottom line: I am thrilled that the ideal company has purchased GEDmatch. The baby I created will now mature for the benefit of all involved. If anyone has any doubts, I may be reached at gedmatch@gmail.com. I will do my best to personally respond to all concerns.

Curtis Rogers
GEDmatch

Verogen's acquisition has produced angst among observers who worry that the company will exploit it for police purposes. The observation that Verogen "caters to law enforcement" 3/ has become a media meme. Verogen is a 2017 spin-off from Illumina, Inc., the San Diego Company that pioneered and acquisitioned its way to cheap DNA sequencing machinery for research and clinical applications. Illumina also sells the arrays that the DTC companies use, but that technology is not suitable for most crime-scene samples. Verogen's website proudly announces that "Verogen serves those who pursue the truth" by being "the world’s first sequencing company solely dedicated to forensic science. ... Powered by Illumina technology and free of legacy method allegiance, we are uniquely positioned to support forensic labs with innovative solutions purpose-built for the challenges of DNA identification."

The purpose-built solutions free of legacy method allegiance that Verogen now markets use Illumina's technology for massively parallel sequencing by synthesis that culminates in traditional autosomal forensic STR data and much more genomic data.It is superior to capillary electrophoresis, especially for small, degraded, and mixed DNA samples. Competitors market other packages of MPS devices, reagents, and software to forensic laboratories. 4/

How Verogen's ownership will affect police access to GEDmatch is not clear. No doubt, Verogen would like the police to use the database, but it cannot afford to alienate the genealogy enthusiasts who send in their SNP array data. It can provide materials and software that would help forensic laboratories who use sequencing technology to generate the SNP data in the format for trawling GEDmatch for haploblock matches. Indeed, Verogen has a "forensic genetic genealogy product in development for forensic laboratories [that] will actually provide more privacy protection for users of GEDmatch, as the test is focused on kinship analysis for forensic purposes." 5/ But I am curious as to how this purpose-built product will provide more privacy protection than occurs with kinship matching for private purposes.

NOTES

1. Justin Petrone, Forensic Genomics Market Advances Due to Consumer Databases, genomeweb, Jan 9, 2020, https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/forensic-genomics-market-advances-due-consumer-databases-technology-innovation.
2. Police Genetic Genealogy at GEDmatch: Is Opt-in the Best Policy?, Forensic Sci., Stat. & L., Sept. 21, 2019, https://for-sci-law.blogspot.com/2019/09/police-genetic-genealogy-at-gedmatch-is.html.
3. Heather Murphy,  What You’re Unwrapping When You Get a DNA Test for Christmas, N.Y. Times, Dec. 22, 2019 ("The new owner, Verogen, said that it would actively fight future search warrants and that users can still opt out of helping police. But Verogen is also a company that has built its business, so far, on catering to law enforcement.").
4. Brigitte Bruijns, Roald Tiggelaar & Han Gardeniers, Massively Parallel Sequencing Techniques for Forensics: A Review, 39 Electrophoresis 2642-2654 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.201800082.
5. Petrone, supra note 1.