this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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[–] muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not suprised. Also not suprised they have been handing this data over to law enforcement for years now. Its no just to track down people whove taken said test but also people who are related even distantly. The fbi estimates they can use dna evidance to single dowm the possible people to 2 or 3 out of the entiriry of the us

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The fbi estimates they can use dna evidance to single dowm the possible people to 2 or 3 out of the entiriry of the us

i am not sure what you mean by this sentence, but you probably misunderstood something.

dna doesn't single down anything, as in it would help you track something. it tells you if two genetic profiles are a match (that means they come from same person), or that they are genetically similar and how distant they are - that tells you that the profiles come from x times removed relatives. after that, it is down to normal police work.

here is veritasium video about how they used this technology to find and convict the infamous golden state killer - https://piped.video/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg

[–] muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah and with a big enough database u can get an almost perfect modal of the country and everyones placw in it.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

with big enough database you simple have every single person in it. that still doesn't back up the quote i disputed in any way. can you find source of the quote? i'd be interested to see the original.

[–] fishos@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They caught the Bay Area Strangler(or whatever his title was) by finding a dna relative match on one of these services and using that to narrow down suspects. DNA can absolutely be used to narrow things down without just having a direct 1:1 match saying it's THAT person.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

they "narrowed it down" to about 1000 people. that is the case covered by video i linked in my comment above.

the sentence The fbi estimates they can use dna evidance to single dowm the possible people to 2 or 3 out of the entiriry of the us is still nonsense

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not exclusively DNA they're using.

It never was exclusively DNA.

There are location, sex, age, and other factors to consider that help narrow it down. You could have 1000 close matches, but only half a dozen or so that could actually have committed the crime, and only a few of them that fit the profile.

[–] spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

You guys are arguing semantics. Walk away...