Sunday Morning Hot Tea - No. 34
My Cosmopolitan Colleague and Can Cops Dig Through Your DNA?
Welcome to Sunday Morning Hot Tea where I write about a little something up top then usually answer a legal question for you down below. This week, letting go of the bird in your hand. Plus, is your distant cousin secretly a murderer? Upload your DNA to this website to find out.
In this edition:
Topic of the Week - Basic and Baller Are Friends
Legal Question – Letting the Cops Comb Through Your DNA
Gold Standard Girlfriend
The most cosmopolitan friend I have is my former coworker, Meagan. When I recently texted her the link to a Louis Vuitton Neverfull with hot pinking lining at 1AM, asking, “Is this cute or tacky? I am too influenced by Lisa Vanderpump,” she replied thoughtfully the next day.
“It’s not tacky, but it’s v basic,” she wrote. She then sent a link to a sleek, leather laptop bag, telling me, “These are v gorgeous and cool girl and would fit your laptop without looking like a basic Highland Park mom.”
Meagan and I got close when we both worked together at a large law firm in Dallas. A crew of us who joined the firm during the same two-week stretch in July 2018 have all since lateraled (attorney talk for “switched jobs”) to various other places but have still stayed in touch.
When we both started at the firm, I never expected Meagan and I would be friends. The first day I saw her, I was incredibly intimidated by her. She had bob-length short hair with blond highlights. She drove an Acura SUV. She carried her things in a sleek leather bag. She worked out with a personal trainer and wore high heels from fancy department stores.
I wore none of these things and did none of these things.
I rarely wore makeup to work and kept my hair pulled back in elastic ties. The one pair of heels I could stomach wearing were LifeStrides Comfort Pumps I bought at Marshall’s. When they wore out, I bought three more pairs on Amazon for $15.99 each, willing to run them down, throw them out, and start again with a fresh pair. I worked out to YouTube videos, if at all, and drove a beat-up Volkswagen Beetle.
The most cosmopolitan thing about Meagan was that, despite these superficial differences, she never once made me feel like I was less than her for being the scrappy little ragamuffin I was. In fact, she made me feel not only like I could attain the level of high-quality life that she enjoyed, but indeed I deserved that as well.
She would slip into my office around 9:30am, carrying a paper cup from Merit Coffee, a San Antonio coffeehouse chain that had just opened a Dallas location. Yes, we had free machine-coffee in the break room, but Meagan liked her Americano from Merit. In the ballerest of baller moves, she walked around holding piping hot coffee in a cup with no plastic lid. A full 20 ounces of black coffee and espresso (if that’s what an Americano is?? I actually drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes because, see above, I am basic), not a lid in sight. NO LID. NO FEAR.
The boldness was honestly incredible and a micro example of her overall confidence and poise. Not only did she dare to carry her coffee that way, but she did so successfully. White pants? Not a drop. Coral-colored blouse? Flawless. I sipped free break-room coffee from a work-issued thermal mug, lid tightly affixed. She, on the other hand, would sit kicked back in the guest chair in my office, steam rising from her cup, casually fielding panicked questions from me about what guy I was dating.
First, it was a situationship I was in, with someone who Meagan regarded at the time (and who I regard now with the benefit of hindsight) as not worthy of my attention. My bird-in-the-hand mentality had me death-gripping onto something that never served me.
“What should I do about this dude?” I asked her.
To Meagan, the solution was clear: Shut it down. Move on. Demand more. After a little more foot-dragging, I finally did.
A few months later, after some mediocre and downright bad Bumble matches, I matched with a gorgeous filmmaker with a great sense of humor.
“Holy shit, look at this guy,” I told her, showing her a photo of my now-fiancé, Paris. “He’s super hot. What is happening? How did we match?”
“You deserve someone like that,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you date a hot guy like him?”
This was a great question. I mean, I hadn’t ever really done it before. Some folks date those who are out of their league. I vacillated between very much in-my-league to way-below-my-league for many years, owing to a debilitating lack of self-esteem.
“I think I am going to go out with him,” I told her.
“You absolutely should,” she said. Then, over the next few weeks, she helped me decide on responses to his texts.
When I started looking for a new-to-me car and began eying a luxury pre-owned SUV, I got mixed input from friends and family. Frugal folks in my life balked at this, but not Meagan. I pulled her around to the other side of my desk one afternoon to show her the car I had chosen. Low milage. Well-maintained. High quality.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s perfect. You deserve it.”
Later, when I showed her a laptop backpack I thought I may want to buy, an upgrade from the beat-up shoulder bag I schlepped my things around in, she didn’t skip a beat. She knew – we both did – I was making big law money at the time. I could afford something a little nicer than what I had. Even so, I wasn’t going for some Kardashianesque Hermès Birkin bag. It was a classic piece from Tumi with a five-year warranty.
Meagan never pushed me toward ostentation but instead taught me to appreciate and value quality in all areas of my life. The question was never, “Is this trendy? Is this cool?” It was always, “How was this made? What is it made of? Who made it?” For it was these qualities that would tell you whether something would last.
When she was poached from our law firm by one of the largest and most well-known companies in the world, it was no surprise. A person like her values quality because she is quality. A person like her stands out as the best and is therefore coveted by the best.
At the time, the law firm job was the best job I had ever had, at least by conventional measures. I had never made as much money, enjoyed such perks, worked on such sophisticated matters, or had that much prestige attached to my name. Still, I hated it but I clung tight. Like the situationship, it was yet another bird-in-the-hand.
Meagan enjoyed all those same benefits working with me at the firm. Perks and prestige aside, when that other job came calling, she left with no hesitation. She had the law firm bird in the hand and found it lacking. She recognized what she deserved and took the leap, negotiating a deal for herself with the new company over and above the initial offer.
I could never, I thought at the time.
“They’re going to pay for that?” I would ask her about some benefit she would be receiving.
“For sure they are,” she replied, unshakable.
Even after she left, she remained steadfast in ushering me toward just exactly what I deserved. When a news story would break about a deal in the podcasting industry, she never failed to send it my way.
“That’s going to be you,” she said, speaking into existence what I quietly hoped for but thought may not be possible. “Soon,” she added.
I had the bird in my hand – the ultimate lawyer job – and felt guilty for having an eye toward leaving to pursue what I truly wanted to do. Hearing that my dream was possible, from someone like her, was huge. All those busy hours, those nights and weekends at the firm, I knew weren’t going to do anything to move the needle in my direction of full-time creative work.
When I started looking around to leave, she was the first person I texted the new job posting to. I found a fellowship – a 9-to-5 opportunity to get paid doing the only thing I really loved at the firm, pro bono work.
“It’s perfect,” she said, and pointed out that the set hours would give me time to grow the show.
I leapt. I applied. I was offered the fellowship and let her know I was selected.
“Of course you were,” she said.
No matter the news I called her with – the podcast was picked up by a network, we were signed by a talent agency, I am quitting work to do the show full time - each time, she would frame my trajectory and the show’s success as an inevitability rather than a fluke.
There are people in this world who will see for us a life we would never want for ourselves. They may pressure us into their ideals or bully us with their expectations.
Then there are others who see us for who we are and for what we have at the present moment.
Best and rarest of all, there are the Meagans of the world. Few and far between, these are the ones with sky-high visions for themselves and for the people they love. These rare ones see for us not what we are or what they think we should be. Instead, they knock aside our fear, our self-imposed limitations, and the foolish expectations of society. They open our eyes to what we deserve. They open our hands so we can let go of that for which we have settled. Through their examples and encouragement, they help us actualize what we were meant for and live the life we truly deserve.
And if we are really lucky, they’ll stop us from impulse-buying a silly shoulder bag that would make us look BASIC AF.
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QUESTIONS FROM YOU –
This week’s question is from Haley via the form. Haley asks:
After listening to the Sinisterhood episodes on Kristin Smart, I couldn't stop thinking about this. What if you submit your DNA to a private company, and it happens to solve a case, are they required to notify you? Are there even laws or regulations for these types of situations? How is law enforcement getting the DNA from the private company (if that's a thing)? Thanks!
Great question, Haley! It’s also a timely question as Maryland and Montana just passed laws restricting how police can use DNA from online databases.
At the time the DNA website GEDMatch was used to capture the Golden State Killer in 2018, the site wasn’t meant for hunting murderers. Two guys created GEDMatch and had no idea police were searching the site’s database for suspects. They thought it was a cool way to find long-lost relatives.
Indeed, at the time, there was no legitimate way for police to search GEDMatch or the other site they used called FamilyTreeDNA. Instead they created a fake profile and uploaded the Golden State Killer’s DNA. Police got a match to a distant cousin and then built a family tree for the suspect in order to identify Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr., who ultimately pleaded guilty to the crimes.
According to The Atlantic, the news of the killer’s arrest was the first time GEDMatch’s creators ever got wind that cops were using their genealogy site to solve crimes. In the wake of the publicity, GEDMatch updated its terms of service to inform users that “DNA obtained and authorized by law enforcement” may be uploaded and used on the site to identify perpetrators of “violent crime.” Though that is defined as rape and murder, the site concedes that it has no way to monitor what crimes law enforcement is using the site for. FamilyTreeDNA followed suit and made similar changes it its privacy policy as well.
With that background, I’ll answer each of your questions in turn.
What if you submit your DNA to a private company, and it happens to solve a case, are they required to notify you?
On FamilyTreeDNA, users who elect to participate in law enforcement efforts are subject to the terms of FamilyTreeDNA’s Law Enforcement Guide. If law enforcement obtains a hit on a user’s DNA and requests more information on the user from FamilyTreeDNA, the website’s policy states that the site will “notify users of the request and supply a copy of the request prior to disclosure” of the user’s information, “unless we are legally barred from doing so.”
In the U.S., law enforcement agencies can get a court order that prevents the DNA website from notifying users. In that case, the user would have no idea they were the subject of an investigation or whether their DNA was being used in connection with an investigation. Usually the court would grant this request if informing the user would somehow impede the investigation, including: endangering the life or physical safety of an individual; causing flight from prosecution; causing the destruction of or tampering with evidence; leading to the intimidation of potential witnesses; or otherwise seriously jeopardizing an investigation or unduly delaying a trial.
If a court finds any of those factors (or any factors otherwise defined under state law), it would sign an order preventing the DNA website from telling you that law enforcement is asking for more information about you.
Are there even laws or regulations for these types of situations?
The overall schema of using a consumer-facing DNA database for purposes of criminal apprehension is governed by the Fourth Amendment and our constitutional right to be secure in our persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Until recently, if a person turned over data to a third-party, like for instance information you give to a bank, that person would no longer have any Fourth Amendment protection for the information given to the third party. This was based on longstanding Supreme Court precedent that said, in essence: if you give your data to someone else, you should not expect it to remain private.
In a 2001 decision, Ferguson v. Charleston, the Supreme Court curtailed that slightly, holding that “material which a person voluntarily entrusts to someone else cannot be given by that person to the police, and used for whatever evidence it may contain.” That case involved a hospital testing medical urine samples for drugs and then turning that information over to the police.
Then in 2018, the Court decided Carpenter v. United States, holding that “a defendant has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the record of his physical movements as captured through cell-site location information.” This meant that just because you allow cell phone companies to know your location, does not mean that the companies can wholesale turn that information over to the cops.
Neither of these decisions discussed DNA websites directly, but reading them together, it’s reasonable to assume that personal, private genetic information may now be considered sufficiently sensitive and private to be protected against general searches by the government, even where you have turned that information over to a third party like GEDMatch.
Going further, starting October 1, in Montana and Maryland, the laws will change to protect information uploaded to a DNA website. In Maryland, the practice of uploading a suspect’s DNA to a site will require approval from a judge and will only be allowed in cases of sexual assault and murder. In Montana, law enforcement will have to obtain a search warrant, unless users have opted to allow police access to their DNA. Other states may soon follow suit and pass laws of their own.
How is law enforcement getting the DNA from the private company (if that's a thing)?
With the Golden State Killer, they just made a fake profile and uploaded it as if they were a regular user. After the news broke of how they got their information, the websites then created specific channels for law enforcement to upload suspects’ data going forward. For FamilyTreeDNA, law enforcement users are directed to follow certain procedures and email their requests to a special department. On GEDMatch, law enforcement users are directed to use the GEDMatch Pro site, rather than the regular consumer site, and must confirm that they are looking for perpetrators of a violent crime.
For general users with a profile on either FamilyTreeDNA or GEDMatch, the decision whether to make their DNA data available to law enforcement is an option to toggle on or off in the privacy settings area of the website.
Since data like DNA uploaded to a website implicates privacy concerns that extend well into Fourth Amendment territory, law enforcement officials are no longer able to misuse the consumer-facing website for investigative purposes, at least not in Montana or Maryland. If they do it in other states, they may face challenges to use of the data on Fourth Amendment grounds, especially in the wake of the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Carpenter.
I hope that answers your questions, Haley! Thanks for submitting.
Got a question? Submit it here. They can be legal what-if questions, questions on current events, or questions about the legality of actions in TV shows or movies you’ve seen. I never ever want to answer your personal legal questions, so don't send those. Love you, but I don’t do that.
Until next week, that’s the tea, and you better have a warrant if you want to search me.
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