GEDmatch

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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. Originally founded by two amateur genealogists, GEDmatch was acquired in 2020 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 The Atlantic's Sarah Zhang. When GEDmatch caught the attention of regulators it was discovered that law enforcement had, with the help of insiders at GEDmatch, been allowed to run DNA comparison analysis on all users regardless of whether the users had chosen to "opt-out" from such comparisons.