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7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 1/6

Authors

CaitlinCurtis

Research fellow, Centre for Policy Futures(Genomics), The University of Queensland

JamesHereward

Research fellow, The University ofQueensland

Academic rigor, journalistic flair

Technologiesforamplifying,sequencingandmatchingDNAhavecreatednew

opportunitiesingenomicscience.InthisseriesWhenDNATalkswelookatthe

ethicalandsocialimplications.

EverywherewegoweleavebehindbitsofDNA.

WecanalreadyusethisDNAtopredictsometraits,suchaseye,skinandhaircolour.Soonitmaybe

possibletoaccuratelyreconstructyourwholefacefromthesetraces.

The science of DNA facial reconstruction is advancing rapidly. Composite from Parabon and PNAS

DNAfacialpredictioncouldmakeprotectingyourprivacy

more difficult

May 2, 2018 3.05am EDT

7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 2/6

Thisistheworldof“DNAphenotyping”–reconstructingphysicalfeaturesfromgeneticdata.

Researchstudiesandcompanieslike23andMesometimessharegeneticdatathathasbeen

“anonymised”byremovingnames.Butcanweensureitsprivacyifwecanpredictthefaceofits

owner?

Here’swherethescienceisnow,andwhereitcouldgointhefuture.

Readmore:Isyourgenomereallyyourown?ThepublicandforensicvalueofDNA

Predictinghair,eyeandskincolour

DNAphenotypinghasbeenanactiveareaofresearchbyacademicsforseveralyearsnow.Forensic

biologyresearchersManfredKayserandSusanWalsh,amongothers,havepioneeredseveralDNA

phenotypingmethodsforforensics.

In2010,theydevelopedtheIrisPlexsystem,whichusessixDNAmarkerstodeterminewhether

someonehasblueorbrowneyes.In2012,additionalmarkerswereincludedtopredicthaircolour.

Lastyearthegroupaddedskincolour.Thesetestshavebeenmadeavailableviaawebsiteandanyone

whohasaccesstotheirgeneticdatacantryitout.

Traitpredictionsarebeingusedtoaddressanumberofquestions.Recently,forexample,theywere

usedtosuggestthatthe“CheddarMan”(theUK’soldestcompletehumanskeleton)mayhavehad

darkordarktoblackskinandblue/greeneyes.Thepredictivemodelsaremostlybuiltonmodern

Europeanpopulations,socautionmayberequiredwhenapplyingtheteststoother(especially

ancient)populations.

Thefullpicture

ResearchonDNAphenotypinghasadvancedrapidlyinthelastyearwiththeapplicationofmachine

learningapproaches,buttheextentofourcurrentcapabilitiesisstillhotlydebated.

Lastyear,researchersfromAmericangeneticistCraigVenter’scompanyHumanLongevity,made

detailedmeasurementsofthephysicalattributesofaround1,000people.Wholegenomes(our

completegeneticcode)weresequencedandthedatacombinedtomakemodelsthatpredict3Dfacial

structure,voice,biologicalage,height,weight,bodymassindex,eyecolourandskincolour.

Readmore:HowcopsusedapublicgenealogydatabaseintheGoldenStateKiller

case

Thestudyreceivedstrongbacklashfromanumberofprominentscientists,includingYanivErlich,

akathe“genomehacker”.Thestudyseemedtopredictaveragefacesbasedonsexandancestry,rather

thanspecificfacesofindividuals.Themethodofjudgingthepredictionsonsmallethnicallymixed

cohortswasalsocriticised.

7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 3/6

Evenwithaccuratefacialpredictions,Erlichnotedthatforthisapproachtoidentifysomeoneinthe

realworld:

anadversary…wouldhavetocreate[a]populationscaledatabasethatincludesheight,face

morphology,digitalvoicesignaturesanddemographicdataofeverypersontheywantto

identify.

Becausewithoutadetailedbiometricdatabaseyoucan’tgetfromthephysicalpredictionstoaname.

Adatabasetomatch?

ItturnsoutthattheAustraliangovernmentisintheprocessofbuildingsuchadatabase.“The

Capability”isaproposedbiometricandfacialrecognitionsystemthatwillmatchCCTVfootageto

informationfrompassportsanddrivinglicences.Initiallybilledasacounter-terrorismmeasure,there

arealreadyreportstheservicemaybeprovidedforafeetocorporations.

Atthesametime,theAustralianTaxOfficehasjustinitiatedavoicerecognitionservice.It’seasyto

imaginehowthiskindofsystemcouldbeintegratedwith“TheCapability”.

Andit’snotonlyAustraliaestablishingthecapabilitytobecomeabiometric,face-recognising

surveillancestate.IndiaisdeployingtheAadharsystem,andChinaleadstheworldinfacial

recognition.

DNAmugshots

Atpresent,mostforensicDNAprofilingtechniquesrelyon“anonymous”markersthatmatchidentity

toadatabase,butreveallittleelseaboutasuspect.Withadvancesingenomictechnology,forensic

geneticsismovingtowardteststhatcantellusmuchmoreaboutsomeone.

ThereareanumberofcompaniesthatofferDNAphenotypingservicesforafee.Onecompany,

ParabonNanoLabs,claimstobeabletoaccuratelypredictthephysicalappearanceofanunknown

personfromDNA.Policeforcesalreadyusetheirservices,includingtheQueenslandpoliceinarecent

caseofaserialrapistontheGoldCoast.

TheParabonsystemisalsobasedonapredictivemodel.Thiswasdevelopedbyapplyingmachine

learningtoolstotheirgenetic/traitreferencedatabase.Thecompanypredictsskincolour,eyecolour,

The Australian Government is building a facial recognition system called The Capability that will match CCTV footage toinformation from passports and driving licences. Queensland Government

7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 4/6

haircolour,freckles,ancestry,andfaceshapefromaDNAsample.Thesepredictions,theconfidence

aroundthem,andareconstructionmadebyaforensicartistareusedtomakea“Snapshot”profile.

Readmore:NewcryptocurrenciescouldletyoucontrolandsellaccesstoyourDNA

data

ThereisscepticismaboutthecapabilitiesofParabon.ItisdifficulttoassessParabon’ssystembecause

thecomputercodeisnotopen,andthemethodologyhasnotbeenpublishedwithpeer-review

scrutiny.

AswithanytypeofDNAevidence,thereisariskofmiscarriagesofjustice,especiallyiftheevidenceis

usedinisolation.TheutilityofDNAphenotypingatthispointmaybemoreinitsexclusionarypower

thanitspredictivepower.ParabondoesstatethatSnapshotpredictionsareintendedtobeusedin

conjunctionwithotherinvestigativeinformationtonarrowthelistofpossiblesuspects.

Wherewillthisallendup?

WeonlyneedtolookatidenticaltwinstoseehowmuchofourfaceisinourDNA.Thequestionis

howmanyoftheconnectionsbetweenDNAandourphysicalfeatureswillwebeabletounlockinthe

future,andhowlongwillittakeustogetthere?

Somefeaturesarerelativelyeasytopredict.Forinstance,eyecolourcanbeinferredfromrelatively

fewgeneticvariants.Othertraitswillbemorecomplicatedbecausetheyare“polygenic”,meaningthat

manygenevariantsworktogethertoproducethefeature.

Arecentstudyofhaircolourgenetics,forexample,examined300,000peoplewithEuropean

ancestry.Theyfound110newgeneticmarkerslinkedtohaircolour,butthepredictionofsome

colours(blackorred)ismorereliablethanothers(blondeandbrown).

7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 5/6

ThewaythatDNAcodesourphysicalfeaturesmightbedifferentinpeoplefromdifferentancestral

groups.Currently,ourabilitytopredictmodernEuropeanswillbebetterthanothergroups–because

ourgeneticdatabasesaredominatedbysubjectswithEuropeanancestry.

Asweemployincreasinglysophisticatedmachinelearningapproachesonbigger(andmoreethnically

representative)databases,ourabilitytopredictappearancefromDNAislikelytoimprove

dramatically.

Parabon’sservicescomewithadisclaimerthatthereconstructionsshouldnotbeusedwithfacial

recognitionsystems.Theintegrationofthesetechnologiesisnotimpossibleinthefuture,however,

andraisesquestionsaboutscopecreep.

Whatdoesthismeanforgeneticprivacy?

Despitethecontroversyaroundwhatwecandonow,thescienceofDNAphenotypingisonlygoingto

getbetter.

WhattherapidlydevelopingfieldofDNAphenotypingshowsusishowmuchpersonalinformationis

inourgeneticdata.Ifyoucanreconstructamugshotfromgeneticdata,thenremovingtheowner’s

namewon’tpreventre-identification.

Twins can show us how much of our face is in our DNA. Clard/Pixabay

7/31/2019 DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

https://theconversation.com/dna-facial-prediction-could-make-protecting-your-privacy-more-difficult-94740?xid=PS_smithsonian 6/6

Genetics Privacy DNA Forensics DNAdata DNAprofiling WhenDNATalks

Protectingtheprivacyofourgeneticdatainthefuturemaymeanthatwehavetocomeupwith

innovativewaysofmaskingit–forexamplegenomecloaking,genomespiking,orencryptionand

blockchain-basedplatforms.

Themoreweunderstandaboutourgeneticcodethemoredifficultitwillbecometoprotectthe

privacyofourgeneticdata.

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