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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Big Brother is watching, but what Orwell really missed the real problem for bad guys: a million little brothers are watching too.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Scenario: murder/rapist/burglar/generic-sleazeball perpetrates crime, gets away, but leaves traces of DNA. The authorities recover the DNA signature but it doesn’t match any of those from states which require DNA samples from all felons, soon it’s a cold case.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But wait, there’s more. We have two huge databases (23&Me and Ancestry.com) along with several smaller ones now, filled with people who help adoptees figure out who are their birth parents. (I don’t want to debate the ethics of that activity under this subject line; it’s a separate discussion.) Adoptee-assistant writes software and learns techniques that help identify common ancestors for two related people. It occurs to adoptee-assistant that he could help bag perps by using this database, comparing with those in the two major DNA databases. We probably couldn’t go directly to the answer, but could perhaps identify (assuming enough patience) four or five sets of his great grandparents, and from that trace it downward, and see what we find. Perhaps there is an obvious common descendant from a given two pairs of great grandparents.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The real idea is this: we know this is a laborious process. We know it is time consuming, but it is an example of an activity that might be taken on by groups of volunteers, and in some cases highly motivated victims. If a person survives an attempted murder for instance, it would be a worthwhile activity for the surviving victim to find the bastard before she kills someone else. Perhaps the perp is in prison in some state where DNA is not required, perhaps on a minor charge and will get out soon. We could get a crowd of volunteers, perhaps figure out a way to compare the perp’s DNA with one of the two big databases, contact her cousins, etc.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Any thoughts?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>