Law Commons^™

The Genetic Panopticon: Genetic Genealogy Searches And The Fourth Amendment, Genevieve Carter

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

As consumer DNA testing gains widespread popularity, so has law enforcement’s interest in leveraging genetic databases for criminal investigations. Consumer DNA testing products like 23andMe and Ancestry allow private individuals access to their genetic data on private databases. However, once coded, genetic data is free to be downloaded by users and uploaded to public databases. Police identify suspects by uploading cold case DNA to public genetic databases and find familial matches. If they identify a familial match, they narrow the field of suspects using traditional methods of investigation, which often includes extracting suspect DNA from a piece of their abandoned …

Legal Terms Of Use And Public Genealogy Websites, Jorge L. Contreras, Kyle Schultz, Craig Teerlink, Tim Maness, Laurence Meyer, Lisa Cannon-Albright

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Public genealogy websites, to which individuals upload family history, genealogy, and sometimes individual genetic data, have been used in an increasing number of public health, epidemiological, and genetic studies. Yet there is little awareness among researchers of the legal rules that govern the use of these online resources. We analyzed the online Terms of Use (TOU) applicable to 17 popular genealogy websites and found that none of them expressly permit scientific research, while at least 13 contain restrictions that may limit or prohibit scientific research using data obtained from those sites. In order to ensure that researchers who use genealogy …

Law Library Blog (October 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Ethical Implications Of Forensic Genealogy In Criminal Cases, Solana Lund

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The use of forensic genealogy to solve criminal cases is likely to increase in the coming years, especially given its success in solving cold cases. While its potential for good is impressive, there are also legitimate ethical concerns that need to be addressed. As society sees an increase in the use of forensic genealogy and DTC databases in criminal investigations as well as an increase in the media attention it garners, there will be more discussion regarding ethical implications. Legal scholars say that it is only a matter of time before courts weigh in on the privacy of DNA and …

Dna Is Different: An Exploration Of The Current Inadequacies Of Genetic Privacy Protection In Recreational Dna Databases, Jamie M. Zeevi

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Part I of this Note discusses the fundamental science behind DNA and defines and explains the process of familial DNA searching. Part I also discusses how Carpenter v. United States provides a framework to begin thinking about the unique nature of DNA and privacy implications for its use, and why the revealing nature of this type of data warrants protection. Part II of this Note delves into the lack of constitutional and statutory protections for DNA in recreational DNA databases. First, Part II explains that traditional Fourth Amendment concepts, like search warrants, probable cause, reasonable expectation of privacy, third-party …

Terms Of Service: The Use And Protection Of Genomic Information By Companies, Databases, And Law Enforcement, Sophia Kallas

Honors Theses

Private genomic companies have become a popular trend in the last two decades by providing customers with information regarding their ancestry and health risks. However, the profiles received from these companies can also be uploaded to public databases for various purposes, including locating other family members. Both testing companies and public databases have private interests, and both are at risk of law enforcement intervention for the purpose of forensic familial searching. There is little federal legislation protecting the privacy of an individual’s genetic profile. Consequently, it has been up to federal agencies, state laws, and judicial precedents to prevent the …

Catching Killers With Consumer Genetic Information, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In April 2018, Joseph James D'Angelo was arrested as a suspect in the Golden State Killer case. DNA evidence collected at a 1980 crime scene finally shed light on the murderer's identity in early 2018 when investigators turned to GEDMatch, a service that allows users to upload and share DNA data obtained from consumer genetic tests. Consumer genetic testing, DNA collection, and familial DNA searching all raise ethical and privacy concerns. If investigators are using genetic genealogy to solve cold cases, where does that leave consumers?

When Genealogy Matters: Intercountry Adoption, International Human Rights, And Global Neoliberalism, Barbara Stark

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Genealogy isn't what it used to be. Once genealogy was the route to "legitimacy," whether literally--a "fillius nullius," a child of no one, was illegitimate, a bastard--or more fancifully--a tastefully mounted family crest could be obtained for virtually any surname, for a price. Or genealogy referred to the painstaking search for roots, the recovery of a personal history, the excavation of a trajectory that would give meaning to the present. But we are all legitimate now. And DNA testing provides more information than anyone can process, including, for some, the refutation of cherished ancestral myths, a good chance of developing …

Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers - Accession 1049, Dorothy Moser Medlin

Manuscript Collection

(The Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers are currently in processing.)

This collection contains most of the records of Dorothy Medlin’s work and correspondence and also includes reference materials, notes, microfilm, photographic negatives related both to her professional and personal life. Additions include a FLES Handbook, co-authored by Dorothy Medlin and a decorative mirror belonging to Dorothy Medlin.

Major series in this collection include: some original 18th century writings and ephemera and primary source material of André Morellet, extensive collection of secondary material on André Morellet's writings and translations, Winthrop related files, literary manuscripts and notes by Dorothy Medlin (1966-2011), copies …

Genealogies Of Cost–Benefit Analysis In Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation, Fernanda Nicola

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) has become a quintessential tool in administrative law informing a variety of modes of regulatory governance. It provides a justification for the regulation of markets based on a quasi-scientific and seemly neutral logic to assess the impact of secondary legislation by government agencies. A new frontier for CBA is the promotion of trade liberalization. It features prominently in the regulatory chapter of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). During the TTIP negotiations, scholars deployed CBA as a “neutral” tool to achieve greater convergence or reassert divergence and experimentalism in regulatory governance across the Atlantic. A genealogical …

Genealogies Of Cost–Benefit Analysis In Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation, Fernanda Nicola

Fernanda G. Nicola

Genealogy And The Law In Canada 2011, Margaret Ann Wilkinson

Margaret Ann Wilkinson

No abstract provided.

Frizzly Studies: Negotiating The Invisible Lines Of Race, Daniel J. Sharfstein

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In 1927 a Radcliffe graduate student named Caroline Bond Day began researching her anthropology master’s thesis on mixed-race families in the United States. The subject had personal resonance for Day, who was a fixture of colored society in Atlanta and had a complexion that defied easy categorization. To gather data for her thesis, she wrote to dozens of men and women in her large circle of friends, among them civil rights leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois, John Hope, and Walter White. She asked for exhaustive genealogies, with estimates of blood proportions— Negro, white, Indian—for each ancestor. She …

Using Federal Documents To Dispel A Myth About Ellis Island, Katherine A. Pennavaria, Rosemary L. Meszaros

Rosemary L. Meszaros

Government workers at New York’s Ellis Island have been accused of murdering ancestral names to serve their own purposes and prejudices. Despite zero evidence to support this accusation, the myth stubbornly persists. They did not change names. They worked from manifests, which were governed by law.

Gordon, Maurice Kirby, 1878-1974 (Mss 306), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 306. Personal and professional papers of Madisonville, Kentucky attorney Maurice Kirby Gordon. Includes Gordon's legal files, personal and business correspondence, photographs, genealogical research, and collected manuscripts and autographs. Also includes materials relating to Gordon's involvement with the American Legion.

Genealogy And The Law In Canada 2011, Margaret Ann Wilkinson

Law Presentations

No abstract provided.

Monroe County, Kentucky - Records, 1838-1857 (Mss 61), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 61. Docket books, 1838-1876 (3), kept by J. Gee, justice of the peace of Monroe County, Kentucky; miscellaneous papers found in books, 1838-post 1952 (20); and record book kept by B. C. Maxey of Barren County, Kentucky, which contains Gee family history, Maxey cemetery records, etc., 1925-1957.