GEDmatch — BrandWiki

GEDmatch

Overview

GEDmatch

screenshot	[[File:GEDmatch-screenshot.png]]
screenshot alt	GEDmatch.com Screenshot
parent	Qiagen
url	gedmatch.com
registration	Required
language	English
num users	1.45 million DNA profiles (in Fall 2020)
owner	Verogen Inc
founder	Curtis Rogers and John Olson

GEDmatch is a public website and online service with DNA and genealogy tools for comparing autosomal DNA in personal family research and for law enforcement in forensic investigative research. Users upload their DNA data files from various genealogy testing companies, and the data is used for DNA comparison of other users and by law enforcement, putting GEDmatch in focus of news media and regulatory bodies for their failure to protect user data privacy and allowing law enforcement to compare DNA without user consent.[1] Originally founded by two amateur genealogists, GEDmatch was acquired in 2020[2][3][4] by Qiagen and is now operated by their company Verogen Inc, a forensic testing company specialized in law enforcement forensic investigative DNA research within the same corporate group.

GEDmatch gained significant media coverage on multiple occasions, notably in April 2018 when it was used by law enforcement to identify a suspect in the Golden State Killer case in California. This case led other law enforcement agencies to start using GEDmatch for DNA comparison of suspect DNA in their investigations of violent crimes, making it "the de facto DNA and genealogy database for all of law enforcement", according to

Data Privacy at GEDmatch

User data privacy and confidentiality of user data especially within genealogic testing continue to be a hot topic, and is something to seriously consider before giving your DNA profile and other personal information to companies. Handling of user data at GEDmatch has come into question and lead to attention from regulatory authorities, and the failures at GEDmatch shows that even if you opt out, and the company has in place all the policies, your data can still be accessed and misused.

Data Privacy Policy Changes

As of May 2025, the terms of service (dated 22 November 2024) that apply between users and Verogen Inc operating GEDmatch, state that uploaded DNA data "remains the property of the person who uploaded it" and the user has to select privacy level for each DNA file uploaded; Private (no comparison to other people), Opt-In (allow comparison to all in the database, including those submitted by law enforcement), Opt-Out (allow comparison to other users but not to law enforcement) or Personal Research (compare to other users, but don't show your profile on reports for your matches).[22]

Prior policies of GEDmatch include the privacy statement as of April 2018 (under their previous owner) which stated that GEDmatch will "provide DNA and genealogy tools for comparison and research purposes" and that it "by its very nature, requires the sharing of information. Because of that, users participating in this site should expect that their information will be shared with other users".[9] Showing that DNA data sharing and comparing with other users has been clearly stated by GEDmatch.

In May 2019, GEDmatch began requiring people who had uploaded their DNA to its site to make a selection in their privacy settings, either opt-out or the opposite, opt-in, in order to allow law-enforcement agencies to access their DNA profile and user information for their DNA comparison in forensic investigations. This change in privacy policy was expected to limit law enforcement agencies' abilities to identify suspects using genetic genealogy.[23] By May 2020, about 260,000 GEDmatch users had opted in.[24][25]

Under the updated policy, investigators could not quietly upload a fake profile to a genealogy website, as some had done in hopes of finding a suspect's distant relatives, without first identifying themselves. The site itself must have informed its users that law-enforcement agencies may search their data. The policy also barred federal investigators from using a suspect's DNA profile to look for genes related to disease risks or psychological traits. Another provision attempted to limit situations in which federal investigators secretly take a DNA sample from a suspect's relative—from a discarded cup or tissue, for example—to help home in on a suspect. The policy said that the person must give their informed consent unless federal investigators have obtained a search warrant.[26] These guidelines applied to federal investigators and federally funded investigations but did not apply to state or local law-enforcement agencies – the vast majority of investigations.

Data Privacy Breaches

GEDmatch has failed to maintain user data security and confidentiality with incidents leading to attention from regulatory authorities, despite user privacy settings and policies implemented by GEDmatch (requiring users to opt-in). Access for law enforcement to the user data was given without informed consent; negative user reactions led to the implementation of an opt-in system for law-enforcement matching. For new uploads, "opt in" is the default selection actively recommended for users,[27] shedding doubt on whether this could be truly "opt-in", which requires action in order to signal one's interest in what is being offered or proposed. Moreover, what is being opted into is not explicitly stated.

In November 2023, GEDmatch put out a press release in response to their failure to maintain data privacy, and breach by GEDmatch of the terms of service. Forensic genealogy practitioners of GEDmatch had circumvented GEDmatch user privacy settings (see below) and had allowed law enforcement to conduct DNA comparison in violation with user settings. This had enabled law enforcement to access DNA profiles of users on GEDmatch who had not opted in to such law enforcement investigative comparisons. In addition, these practitioners had asked law enforcement to keep this misuse secret, had trained others how to use it, and even doctored reports to prevent the misuse from becoming known. Through this misuse, information about user's genetic relationships (which were not supposed to be available for law-enforcement investigations) were made available for comparison, despite the user having denied such use.[1]

In November 2019, a Florida judge approved a police request for a warrant to search the database of GEDmatch.

DNA Doe Project

Two genealogical researchers, Dr. Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press, started the DNA Doe Project in 2017 to identify unknown bodies using GEDmatch. They use volunteers to construct the sometimes very large family trees resulting from genetic data, in order to identify missing persons. Their successes include the following:

Identification of the "Buckskin girl", a young woman found murdered beside a road in Miami County, Ohio, in 1981, as Marcia King. She was identified by autosomal DNA through GEDmatch and genetic genealogy in March 2018.[55]
They also investigated a man called Joseph Newton Chandler III, found to have stolen the identity of an eight-year-old in 1978 and committed suicide in 2002 in Eastlake, Ohio, obtained a sample of his DNA and uploaded it to GEDmatch. By the genetic results, researchers identified him as Robert Ivan Nichols. This finding was revealed in late June 2018.[56]
They helped identify "Sheep Flats Jane Doe", a homicide victim from July 1982, who was identified as 33-year-old Mary Silvani in the summer of 2018. She had been raped and murdered near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.[57] Washoe County Sheriff's Office withheld her name until May 2019, when they had also confirmed the identity of her killer, James Richard Curry. He had died in jail in January 1983, after confessing to two other murders and being arrested in a third. He was also identified through genetic genealogy, with the aid of the DNA Doe Project and GEDmatch.
In December 2018, they identified a man using the alias "Alfred Jake Fuller" when he was found dead in 2014 in a Kennebec County, Maine, hotel apartment.[57] He had died of natural causes.
In December 2018, they identified "Anaheim Jane Doe", who had been found murdered in 1987 in Anaheim, Orange County, California. The police announced the victim's identify as 20-year-old Tracey Coreen Hobson.[58][57]
In January 2019, they identified "Lavender Doe", a young woman whose burned body had been found near a road in Gregg County, Texas, in 2006. East Texas officials announced that she was 21-year-old Dana Lynn Dodd.[59] Joseph Burnette had confessed to her murder in 2018 but had not known her identity.[60]
In February 2019, a man called "Rock County John Doe" was identified using GEDmatch. His body had been found in 1995 (it was estimated he had died in 1994) in Rock County, near Clinton, Wisconsin. The police medical examiner concluded that he had died from hypothermia.[61]
In March 2019, the DNA Doe Project identified "Butler County Jane Doe" as 61-year-old Darlene Wilson Norcross. Norcross' body had been found in a wooded area near West Chester, Ohio, on March 7, 2015.[62] She had never been reported as missing, and the police were unable to determine her cause of death.
In March 2019, the project identified "Annie Doe" as 16-year-old Annie Marie Lehman who was found on August 19, 1971, in Cave Junction, Oregon, near the border with California. Some debris was noted to partially conceal the remains. The project was through collaboration with NCMEC and NamUs.
In June 2019, "Vicky" Doe (one of serial killer Shawn Grate's first victims), murdered between 2002 and 2006 was identified as 23-year-old Dana Nicole Lowrey.[63]
In July 2019, "Belle in the Well", the remains of a woman found strangled in a well in Chesapeake, Ohio, in 1981, was identified as Louise Virginia Peterson Flesher. Flesher was about 65 years old at the time of her murder and was born in West Virginia.[64]