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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I had an idea which I am now working up the testicular fortitude to do it, but I would like some moral and ethical guidance please.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Recall a few weeks ago, I was thinking of submitting a DNA sample from a female volunteer to 23andMe or Ancestry.com with a phony user profile with some big breezy story that sounds like some British noble (Priscilla Prudence Prufrock) who doesn’t understand why half the names on her cousins list are unfamiliar. The other half are all the dozen family names she knows so well, the ones which have been her ancestors since the days of Henry VIII.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It might be funny, but it would be Candid-Camera-ish on the ethics scale, a gag at someone else’s expense. I decided to not do that one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Now I have an even tougher ethics question for you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I am helping some adoptees find their bio-parents. One of my collaborators revealed a horrifying incident that took place a few years ago: her sister was kidnapped, raped, held for several days, managed to escape. They caught the bastard, but somehow he managed to get a light-ish sentence, since it was his first offense, one for which he could be paroled after a few years. Turns out it was arrested in a DNA-collecting state, so they took a sample and eventually found a match from another similar crime ten years ago, where the victim did not survive. So he is no longer in the victim’s nightmares. Today he is a most obedient wife to the brutally affectionate Bubba, who stole a car by carrying it away on his back.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>OK then. Suppose I get a volunteer, submit his DNA sample, put up a user profile that reads something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Name: Slee Z. Perp<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Occupation: Career criminal. You name it, I done it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>About Me: I am on the loose now, scouting around for new victims every day. My last one didn’t have a chance; she was going out to her car in a dark parking lot and there I was, bwaaahaaaahaahaaaaaa. I was careful about not leaving fingerprints, but unfortunately I left behind some DNA, and now here I am. So I moved to a state which doesn’t require DNA samples, just in case I get caught for some minor minor misbehavior, such as burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, that kind of thing. The suckers will never catch me here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>OK 23andMe-ers, that was a fictional account, but here’s the real deal: what if someone had posted this, a highly motivated victim for instance? Would you be willing to join a team to help catch criminals who leave DNA in or on the victim? Would it change your mind if the victim is your mother, your sister, your sweetheart, your daughter?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If you want to participate in this, just post your .csv file to my @, Mister.E.Solvers@gmail.com. There are no rewards other than just a feeling of having done the right thing. I have written software which compares the .csvs and finds patterns. It can also be used for finding birth parents (which is what it was originally designed to do, but this is an extension.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>You can even stay anonymous if you wish; this algorithm doesn’t require knowing who you are. What it does is finds commonalities between your DNA and the sleazy perp’s. It figures out who is his great grandparents by matching with those who have derived family trees. Even if we find a match and ask you for a family tree, you can still be anonymous. All we really need is your four grandparent’s names. We don’t even need to know who your parents are (except in the highly unlikely case the perp is a sibling.) In most cases it will be a second or third cousin if we contact you. If you want to join the team, just send a .csv file to <a href="mailto:Mister.E.Solvers@gmail.com">Mister.E.Solvers@gmail.com</a> and let’s catch these bastards before they kill someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>OK extropians, assume you live in the USA and you know your constitution, and you have a conscience. Would play along? How would you word it differently? Are there ethical considerations I have missed? I have a DNA test case volunteer and I want to push forward on this. Extropians, if you have done 23andMe or Ancestry.com DNA and want to participate in testing my software, you have my email @.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Adrian you were a sane voice last time. What do we do now, coach? What can go wrong? What can go right? Anyone else? Anders wan Kanobi?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>