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When MIT Technology Review reporter Antonio Regalado uploaded his DNA profile to FamilyTreeDNA and opted into law-enforcement searches, his profile could also help investigators find genetic relatives who had never agreed to be searched. That is the central privacy issue: ancestry DNA can reveal family connections, so one person’s choice may have consequences for others.
How can your DNA help identify a relative?
DNA matching works through shared inheritance. A person shares about 50% of their DNA with a parent, 25% with a grandparent and 12.5% with a first cousin. A genealogical database can use those shared segments to identify likely relatives, even when the person investigators are trying to identify has never submitted a profile.
In its August 23, 2025 report, MIT Technology Review said FamilyTreeDNA returned 3,309 matches for Regalado’s profile. Those matches did not mean that thousands of people were suspects. They were potential genetic connections—clues that could be used to build a family tree and narrow an investigation.
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Forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) uses genetic relatives to help identify a person connected to crime-scene DNA. It is an investigative lead, not a direct name lookup: investigators combine DNA matching with genealogical research to develop a candidate.
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- A FEW SIMPLE STEPS: Simply activate your DNA kit online and return your saliva sample in the prepaid package to our state-of-the-art lab. Your results will be available online in roughly six weeks.
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- Obtain a usable crime-scene DNA profile. Investigators need DNA from the case that can be analyzed and compared.
- Search a genealogy database. A profile derived from the evidence is compared with profiles in a database that permits the relevant law-enforcement search.
- Find and assess genetic matches. Investigators use the degree of shared DNA and other available information to infer possible family relationships.
- Build and narrow a family tree. Genealogical research can help identify people whose family connections fit the DNA evidence and the case.
- Investigate a candidate independently. A family-tree lead is not, by itself, proof of guilt. It points investigators toward further investigation and evidence.
The 2018 arrest of the Golden State Killer in California became a landmark example of this approach. MIT Technology Review reported in 2025 that FIGG had helped solve hundreds of murders and sexual assaults.
What Regalado’s FamilyTreeDNA opt-in showed
Regalado reported that FamilyTreeDNA let users opt into or out of police searches, and he selected “Yes.” His account illustrates a choice made by an individual profile holder—not a rule that applies to every ancestry database or DNA-testing service.
FamilyTreeDNA’s general manager, genealogist Dave Vance, told Regalado that three-quarters of profiles were opted in to law-enforcement searches. That was a company representative’s statement reported in August 2025, not an independently verified or current participation figure.
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- A FEW SIMPLE STEPS: Simply activate your DNA kit online and return your saliva sample in the prepaid package to our state-of-the-art lab. Your results will be available online in roughly six weeks.
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The report described FamilyTreeDNA as a brand operated by Gene by Gene, which had been sold in 2021 to MyDNA; it also said the ultimate owner was an Australian mogul whose name was not shown on the website. Ownership and policies can change, so those details describe the situation as reported at that time, not a guarantee of the company’s current structure.
How many people could be affected?
At publication, MIT Technology Review reported that about 1.5 million profiles were available for police searches. The article also relayed an estimate that roughly 2% of the U.S. population—about 6 million people—could theoretically make it possible to identify the source of nearly any crime-scene DNA. The underlying scientists were not named in the article, so this should be read as a reported estimate, not a precise or independently attributable prediction.
The important point is not that every person in a database will be investigated. It is that a relatively small set of searchable profiles can create connections to a much larger number of people through family relationships. People who never uploaded DNA may still be relevant to a search because a relative did.
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What opting in does—and does not—mean
Opting into a genealogical database’s police-search setting is different from being placed in a compulsory government DNA database. It is also not the same as saying that every police agency can search every consumer DNA service. The rules depend on the particular database, its settings and policies, and the circumstances of a request.
Likewise, a genealogical match is an investigative clue, not a verdict. A match can point toward a family branch; it does not establish that a particular relative committed a crime. The investigation must still establish whether a candidate is connected to the evidence.
Why one person’s consent raises a family privacy question
A person can make an individual choice about a profile they control, but DNA is shared information. A relative may not have agreed to any search and may not even know that their family member uploaded a profile. In the report, scholars’ concern about this mismatch between an individual’s decision and its effects on others was described as the “tyranny of the minority.”
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That tension is difficult to solve with a simple opt-in checkbox. A profile holder can consent to the use of their own account setting, but relatives cannot each separately consent to being inferable from shared DNA. At the same time, FIGG has been used to help solve serious crimes. The policy question is how to weigh those investigative benefits against privacy interests held by people who did not choose to participate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Questions to ask before uploading DNA
Before sending a sample or uploading raw DNA data, check the specific service’s current policies and account controls. Do not assume that one company’s rules apply to another.
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- Raw-data uploads: Can you upload results from another testing service, and would those files be subject to different terms?
- Retention and deletion: Can you delete the profile and genetic data? Does deletion also remove information already shared with relatives or used in an investigation?
- Legal requests: What does the service say about subpoenas, warrants, or other requests from authorities?
- Policy and ownership changes: How will you learn if terms, ownership, or search practices change?
- Family impact: Are you comfortable with a profile helping identify genetic connections involving relatives who have not chosen to participate?
For FamilyTreeDNA specifically, the opt-in choice and participation figure described above come from Regalado’s August 2025 account. Check the company’s current terms and controls directly before making a decision; the report does not establish whether those details remain unchanged.
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- YOUR DATA, YOUR CONTROL: We give you full control over your genetic information. You decide what to share, and with whom.
- FAMILY HISTORY MEMBERSHIP: The 3-month “World Explorer” membership gives you access to billions of family history records. The membership is redeemable during the AncestryDNA activation process only by the person activating the AncestryDNA test. The person redeeming the membership may choose to convert to an auto-renewing membership by submitting valid billing information.
- BUILD YOUR FAMILY TREE: Combine what you learn from your DNA results with an Ancestry subscription and gain access to millions of family trees and the world's largest collection of online family history records.
- ORIGINS AND INHERITANCE: AncestryDNA is the only DNA test that can show your origins results, DNA matches, and traits by each side of the family, without your parents taking a DNA test.
Why the rules remain unsettled
Regalado described a landscape involving private laboratories and genealogy websites, changing terms, and no national FIGG database or consensus. A genealogist characterized the field as having “Noble aims; no rules.” That captures the governance problem: the technique can support serious investigations, while database access, consent expectations and the treatment of relatives depend on policies that are not uniform across services.
The practical consequence is that a DNA upload is not only a decision about personal ancestry results. It can also make family relationships more legible to a search conducted under a particular service’s rules. As Regalado put it, “Your DNA; my bad.”
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