The first-ever voluntary collection of DNA from Massachusetts residents had been scheduled for Saturday morning at Newton City Hall by the office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. The event was promoted foremost as a means to solve crimes and identify human remains. In practice, the collected DNA would enable the state to instantly connect residents and their extended relatives to DNA evidence of interest. This could implicate them in crimes, identify them as anonymous whistleblowers by DNA left on a document or envelope, confirm their presence at protest rallies by DNA they leave in the air, or reveal genetic diseases. The event has been postponed.
An article in the Boston Globe Saturday morning announced there would be a “DNA Drive Day” conducted in the Newton City Hall parking lot. Arriving at the scene at 10 AM, Fig City News found a sign posted on the entrance to the City Hall War Memorial stating that the event had been postponed.
A statement from the District Attorney’s office (photo below) posted on the door stated that the event had been postponed due to weather and concerns raised by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Boston Globe also posted a new story on the cancellation.
Statement from the District Attorney’s office:
As you know, this Office scheduled a “DNA Drive Day” for June 17, 2023. Considering the weather forecast and the reasons discussed below, this outdoor event has been POSTPONED.
The genesis of this event is our firm belief that the use of genetic genealogy is revolutionizing the identification of missing and unidentified children and adults and the criminal investigation of long uncharged or “cold cases.” The Office’s Cold Case Unit, established by DA Ryan in 2019, recently solved a sexual assault case using forensic genealogy and continues to use it to move investigations forward. As an office that strives to be the most innovative public prosecutor’s Office in the country, we are committed to the use of this tool and have retained a preeminent forensic genealogist to assist us.
Since our Office is at the forefront of this work, we recognize that we will inevitably encounter novel legal, ethical and privacy questions. When we began to publicize this event, we were greeted by both excitement and interest, as well as valid questions. We have already engaged with a local chapter of the ACLU around their questions and concerns, convening discussions between DA Ryan, our experts and representatives from the ACLU and agreeing to incorporate their input. We believe that the community will best be served by further conversation.
We remain committed to being transparent and thorough when it comes to informing the public about the privacy expectations of those who voluntarily donate their DNA to a genetic genealogy database. District Attorney Ryan thanks the ACLU for sharing its good faith questions and concerns and we look forward to continuing to learn from each other and from other important stakeholders.
You can visit our website to learn more about FIGG and how genetic genealogy databases are used here: https://www.middlesexda.com/home/pages/dna-drive-day
If you would like to be involved in this ongoing conversation, please let us know by emailing us at mdaoinfo@mass.gov.
A Lexington resident, who declined to give her name, arrived at City Hall unaware of the event postponement. She said had read about the event in the Boston Globe that morning. When asked why she had come, she said, “It’s free. It costs $100s of dollars to get this ancestry data online.”
Contacted for comment, a spokesperson for the City said that “This was an event that was being done by District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office that was being held at City Hall. Any further information would need to come from her office.” She explained that it was to be an outdoor drive-through event to be conducted in the traffic circle, which was ideal for the purpose. She said District Attorney Ryan has events at City Hall in the past. She said that given the request was coming from a state agency, a request like this would be routinely approved by the Mayor’s Office.
Newton City Councilor Julia Malakie indicated that she was unaware the event had been organized and that no notification of it had been made in the parking restriction email from the City that might typically highlight such an event.
Ward 2 At-Large City Councilor Tarik Lucas, when asked about the event said, “I do not feel comfortable about giving my DNA to the government. There are many constitutional and civil rights concerns.”
Charles Baron, a former Newton resident and retired Boston College Constitutional Law professor — while cautioning he is not up to date on all the case law, technology, and accuracy — stated that “with public labs, and how they can mishandle information, there are so many ways this can go wrong. Really, what it comes down to is coming up with procedures that come close to protecting privacy. Will this DNA be identified in the database with the name of the individual? Or will it be kept confidential, but with some means provided for contacting the individual, explaining what use is to be made of it, and in each instance, getting consent to that particular use?” On the broader privacy issue, Baron said, “We may need to allow some risk of people getting away with crimes versus giving the government all this information about people. We do this with due process; we do this with juries.”
Newton resident George Annas, is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and chair of the Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights Department of Boston University School of Public Health. He co-authored the 1995 Genetics Privacy Act. He said, “Charles Baron has it just right in the points he makes. This is a privacy issue, and we are getting close to giving all our privacy away,” noting there is important medical privacy information contained in DNA regarding the risk of diseases. “What if there is a DNA sequence that predicts Alhzimers discovered? Do you want to know? Do you want your family and employer to know? Some people don’t care. The key issue here is the role of the city and the District Attorney. I want to know who thought this was a good idea?”
According to the District Attorney’s website, residents can opt out of certain test uses:
Opting-In for FIGG in Family Tree DNA means your DNA will be compared to law enforcement kits uploaded to identify a perpetrator of homicide, sexual assault, or abduction, or to identify the remains of a deceased individual. Opting-Out for FIGG in Family Tree DNA means your DNA will not be compared to any law enforcement DNA kits uploaded. In GEDmatch Opting-In means your DNA will be compared to law enforcement ONA kits uploaded to identify the perpetrator of a violent crime (where violent crime is defined as murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, aggravated rape, robbery, or aggravated assault) or to identify human remains (which, for clarity, excludes fetal remains and remains of stillborn children). Opting-Out means your DNA will NOT be compared to law enforcement DNA kits uploaded from cases to identify perpetrators of violent crimes, however, it WILL be compared to law enforcement kit uploads for unidentified remains.
Awareness of the event in Newton appears to have been relatively low. Fox25 reported it being announced on National Missing Children’s Day on May 25. It was announced on Twitter 5 days earlier on Monday, June 12, by DA Ryan with the tagline “To Assist in Missing and Unidentified Persons Cases,” which implicitly means, in some cases, the donor or a close relative’s DNA may be part of the evidence in a past or future investigation. Newton City Hall retweeted the tweet.
Late Saturday, WCVB obtained a statement from the ACLU on the matter:
DNA contains extremely sensitive and revealing information, especially about personal health. This applies not just to the person who provides a sample but to all of their biological relations – past, present, and future. Any collection of DNA information, whether by government or private entities, is vulnerable to misuse, abuse, and unauthorized disclosure. Indeed, DNA in these databases can be used by police from states across the country, including those that have criminalized abortion, and is subject to data breaches — just three years ago, GEDmatch was hacked.
We thank District Attorney Marian Ryan for listening to these civil liberties and privacy concerns, and making the decision to postpone the event. We look forward to continuing our conversations together.
[Editor’s note: This article has been updated with quotes from George Annas, Tarik Lucas, and the City of Newton.]