How They Caught The Golden State Killer
How They Caught The Golden State Killer on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2021–2023.
Veritasium explains how investigators caught the Golden State Killer using forensic genealogy, matching crime scene DNA to distant relatives in public genealogy databases. It also covers the privacy implications of DNA databases.
What HN commenters said
9 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
falcolasFeb 2022Strongly recommends
DNA is a genie that's flown far and free from their bottle. Even if you are not in the system directly (from, say, 23&me, rape kits, arrests, etc), someone within 2-3 degrees of separation on your family tree is. It's enough for you to be identified in most cases. If you haven't watched the video Veritasium did about the Golden State Killer, I highly recommend it. It details quite nicely how if anybody has your DNA sample, the police have access to it. ▶ this video Bonus points for noticing how many of these company reps who tout "nothing to hide" like protecting their own privacy.
in “San Francisco police linked a woman to a crime using DNA from her rape exam” · View on HN
rochoDec 2023Cites it
> Even my brother and I share only ~50% DNA. This is completely false. Any two random humans have more than 99% overlap by virtue of being the same species. It's even higher for brothers. We also share around 90% DNA with cats, dogs and elephants. [link] > I'm not too worried about it because it's never a 100% overlap. This doesn't make sense. If they were equal, you'd be the same person except for environmental differences. Many applications don't need equal DNAs. E.g. ▶ this video > About insurance companies, they're legally forbidden to use such data. This is a very weak argument. There's a long history of companies doing illegal things, and even if it's illegal today it doesn't mean it'll be illegal tomorrow.
in “23andMe frantically changed its terms of service to prevent customers from suing” · View on HN
morebortplatesJun 2023Cites it
That's exactly how the so called Golden State Killer was caught. [link] Video by Veritassium about the case: ▶ this video
in “We can ID people from DNA that shows up in environmental studies” · View on HN
afioriFeb 2022Cites it
Finding people from remote relatives and medical inferences. If someone has access to enough nicely distributed DNA samples they can correctly identify you from your DNA even if you are not in any database only based on your family tree. Varitasium video for reference: ▶ this video This is generally time consuming and done to identify criminals but it is very simple.
in “San Francisco police linked a woman to a crime using DNA from her rape exam” · View on HN
donatjNov 2021Cites it
If you don't like that, you're going to hate this. ▶ this video Basically they can find you from your DNA, even if only a couple very distant relatives ever gave theirs.
in “Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system” · View on HN
aaron695Nov 2021Cites it
Not directly useful to me. In hind-site I guess obvious. All the solutions you should do anyway. Lung cancer, any cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease - Don't smoke, filter your air, don't drink (to much), lower stress, eat healthy, have good relationships with people. My skin cancer was low, should I wear sunscreen less? Maybe it breaks some peoples self denial or gives them a kick in the ass? Definitely do it though a Chinese company if you can. Keep it out of the hands of governments that control you. Probably you are screwed anyway on this - "How 1 Person Can Expose The Identities of 1000" - Veritasium - ▶ this video I think it's good to get control of your body. Maybe it's busy work. Maybe it's not.
in “Ask HN: Have you done a DNA test for health reasons and learned anything useful?” · View on HN
Show 3 more comments
timmytokyoNov 2021Cites it
Except that this kind of person is related to other people who might have different views on such consent. ▶ this video
in “All Those 23andMe Spit Tests Were Part of a Bigger Plan” · View on HN
johncessnaOct 2021Cites it
Weird, I just finished watching Veritasium's [1] latest video which featured the techniques for finding the Golden State Killer, and saw this one come across the feed. [1] ▶ this video
in “Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer” · View on HN
nextaccounticOct 2021Cites it
Do they store the dna in a database that law enforcement could, perhaps with a subpoena, have access to? Here's a video how law enforcement can get a match on a dna database through any of your relatives that did a dna test there. ▶ this video This kind of thing creates a chilling effect in which people avoid getting the medical help they need just to not contribute with a permanent genetic database. This kind of stuff is exactly why HIPAA exists. Also: why did they give you a summary, but gave the doctors a full report? Could you get the full report if you asked them?
in “Why kidney failure led me to found an Health Tech Startup” · View on HN