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  • The Atlantic

    A DNA Company Wants You to Help Catch Criminals

    FamilyTreeDNA was criticized for secretly working with the FBI. Now it’s explicitly asking potential customers to help law enforcement.
    by Sarah Zhang Mar 29, 2019 4 minutes
    Source: Reuters pool

    Give us your DNA. Help catch a criminal. That’s the message of a recent ad from the genetic-testing company FamilyTreeDNA. The video stars Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth Smart was abducted at age 14, exhorting viewers to upload their DNA profiles to the company’s website.

    Not so long ago, DNA-testing companies were known only for their promise to unlock medical secrets or trace family histories. What’s changed is the arrest of the alleged Golden State Killer. Since police tracked down a suspect in the notorious case by uploading crime-scene DNA and finding distant relatives on a genealogy website, the

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