Re:Open-source DNA website GEDmatch helped crack Golden Stat...
by maxerickson on Friday April 27, 2018 @08:30PM
(#16945473)
How high should the bar be for doing some surveillance?
Re:Open-source DNA website GEDmatch helped crack Golden Stat...
by dannypgh on Saturday April 28, 2018 @11:52AM
(#16948196)
Legally: This depends on the type of surveillance. Reading someone's first class mail requires a warrant. Posting a car on public streets to observe them requires nothing.
Ethically: law enforcement finds most violations of the law in places they look, so if it's unfair where they're looking, it's easy for that to translate into unfair outcomes. A society where police are watching every Capulet but not investigating the Montagues is one where most of the arrests will be of Capulets, regardless of who is actually committing crimes.
Therefore, when talking in populations, surveillance approximates punishment and familial surveillance approximates collective punishment of an extended family.
It's easy to imagine a world where if they find someone that's likely a first (or second!) cousin of a rapist, that they then surveil the entire family and use that as evidence for warrants or other investigative tactics. In this case they cross referenced the familial identification with other factors, but imagine if they hadn't? They might have put a tail on everyone who shares a common grandparent or great-grandparent.