Investigative genetic genealogy in Europe: Why the “manifestly made public by the data subject” legal basis should be avoided

IF 3.3 3区社会学 Q1 LAW

Computer Law & Security Review Pub Date : 2025-01-10 DOI:10.1016/j.clsr.2025.106106

Taner Kuru

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Investigative genetic genealogy has emerged as an effective investigation tool in the last few years, gaining popularity, especially after the arrest of the Golden State Killer. Since then, hundreds of cases have been reported to be solved thanks to this novel and promising technique. Unsurprisingly, this success also led law enforcement authorities in the EU to experiment with it. However, there is an ambiguity on which legal basis in the EU data protection framework should be used to access the personal data of genetic genealogy database users for investigative purposes, which may put the legality and legitimacy of investigative genetic genealogy in Europe at stake. Accordingly, this article examines whether the “manifestly made public by the data subject” legal basis enshrined in Article 10(c) of the Law Enforcement Directive could be used for such purposes. Based on its analysis, the article argues that this legal basis cannot be used for such purposes, given that the personal data in question are not “manifestly made” “public”, and they are not disclosed “by the data subject” in all cases. Therefore, the article concludes by suggesting a way forward to ensure the lawfulness of this investigation method in the EU data protection framework.

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来源期刊

Computer Law & Security Review LAW-

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

10.30%

发文量

审稿时长

67 days

期刊介绍： CLSR publishes refereed academic and practitioner papers on topics such as Web 2.0, IT security, Identity management, ID cards, RFID, interference with privacy, Internet law, telecoms regulation, online broadcasting, intellectual property, software law, e-commerce, outsourcing, data protection, EU policy, freedom of information, computer security and many other topics. In addition it provides a regular update on European Union developments, national news from more than 20 jurisdictions in both Europe and the Pacific Rim. It is looking for papers within the subject area that display good quality legal analysis and new lines of legal thought or policy development that go beyond mere description of the subject area, however accurate that may be.