Identity inference of genomic data using long-range familial searches
Open accessAbstract
Detecting familial matches: Recent advances in DNA technology and companies that provide array-based testing have led to services that collect, share, and analyze volunteered genomic information. Privacy concerns have been raised, especially in light of the use of these services by law enforcement to identify suspects in criminal cases. Testing models of relatedness, Erlich et al. show that many individuals of European ancestry in the United States—even those that have not undergone genetic testing—can be identified on the basis of available genetic information. These results indicate a need for procedures to help maintain genetic privacy for individuals. Science , this issue p. 690
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A minimum threshold of greater than 6 cMs was used as a reliable proof of biological relationships because shorter segments could be identical by state rather than identical by descent.
“For this study, a minimum threshold > 6 cMs was used as a reliable proof of biological relationships [33], because shorter segments could be the results of chance (identical by state or IBS) and not necessarily the result of a genealogical relationship (identical by descent or IBD).”
From Resolving a 150-year-old paternity case in Mormon history using DTC autosomal DNA testing of distant relatives. (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
The paper’s Abstract says it retained relatives sharing at least two IBD segments greater than 6 cM each to increase the chance of correctly inferring genealogical relationships. It does not call a single segment above 6 cM reliable proof of a relationship or explain the threshold by saying shorter segments could be identical by state. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEven when sensitive patient data are anonymized, certain algorithms can still identify individual patients.
“Other studies have shown that, even when sensitive patient data are anonymized, certain algorithms can still identify individual patients [189-191].”
From Multimodal Large Language Models in Health Care: Applications, Challenges, and Future Outlook. (2024) · cites this paper as [189]
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References 24 · Cited by 367
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [22]Department of Health and Human Services, Fed. Regist 82, 7149– 7274 (2017). 28106360
- Authors
- Erlich, Y., Shor, T., Pe’er, I., & Carmi, S.
- Affiliations
- New York Genome Center (US)
- MyHeritage, Or Yehuda 6037606, Israel.
- Columbia University (US)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Erlich, Yaniv
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2018-11-09
- Volume
- 362
- Issue
- 6415
- Pages
- 690-694
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- PMC
- PMC7549546
- OpenAlex
- W2895917461
- Cited by
- 367
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 6 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 29.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Keywords
- identity inference, law enforcement, distant relatives, European ancestry, privacy policies, human subjects research
- MeSH terms
- Family Relations, Humans, Pedigree, Genomics, Databases, Genetic, Genetic Privacy
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