Commercial genetic information and criminal investigations: The case for social privacy

Abstract

Taking a DNA test with a commercial company is an increasingly popular enterprise, with tens of millions of consumers worldwide. In recent years, these genetic databases have also been used for so-called investigative genetic genealogy (IGG): uploading a crime scene DNA sample in these databases to find a distant relative of the unknown suspect. This forensic use of genetic consumer information has already helped solve many crimes. The debate on IGG tends to focus on individual rights and values, such as individual consent, individual control over information, and – perhaps most prominently – individual privacy. In this paper, I propose to approach IGG through the lens of privacy's social value, in contrast to merely its individual value. First, I discuss the conceptualization of privacy as a social value. Next, I explore several issues of IGG that privacy's social value allows consideration for: the informational and decisional interconnectedness, the risk of a tyranny of the minority, the involvement of multiple contexts, and the relationship between citizens and state. I conclude that this approach offers a fruitful perspective to evaluate the ethical and social desirability of IGG, evading the simplified dichotomy between individual privacy versus the security of society, in which the former will almost automatically lose. A focus on privacy's social value recognizes the effects for society on both sides of the balance. It brings into the light fundamental ethical, social, and political concerns of IGG, that extend beyond individual data control or consent.