Have they ever encouraged people to submit DNA samples in order to identify criminal relatives? I could see this going over well with the law-and-order part of the population.

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toomuchtodo 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

HN Search: GEDmatch - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

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IAmBroom 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A murderer was caught because he was semi-closely (2nd-cousin) related to my cousin. Her DNA was a loose match to evidence. They found out she is The Geneologist for our family, and asked her to help... Boom, found him.

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timcobb 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is a great call, these folks aren't devious or clever enough to understand that they can just ask...

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pfdietz 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Even more devious would be "submit DNA samples and we'll give you immunity from paternity lawsuits", since concerns over that might inhibit some.

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potato3732842 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Nobody who needs protection from a paternity lawsuit would fall for it.

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IAmBroom 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh, my sweet summer child. Have you met any teenage boys? Or most philandering men?

	▲	decremental 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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Workaccount2 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You just follow them around until they throw their lunch in the park waste bin, then collect their DNA off the garbage. No need to compel anyone.

	▲	pfdietz 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's the end game, but first you have to figure who to follow around. To do that, you triangulate with public DNA data of somewhat distant relatives. Forensic genealogy.