How a DIY genealogy site became a secret tool for criminal investigations
MyHeritage began as a living-room startup in Israel, growing into a global repository of billions of historical records and DNA profiles. While it markets itself as a tool for family discovery, its massive database has occasionally been accessed by law enforcement to solve cold cases, sparking intense privacy debates.
Founded in 2003 by Gilad Japhet in Bnei Atarot, Israel, MyHeritage evolved from a self-funded project into a massive freemium platform. By 2023, the company supported 42 languages and had amassed over 19.9 billion historical records. Its growth was fueled by a series of strategic acquisitions, including Geni.com, OSN Group, and Filae, allowing it to consolidate vast amounts of genealogical data, family trees, and photographs under one digital umbrella.
The platform's utility for investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) stems from its ability to host user-uploaded DNA data. In IGG, investigators upload a suspect's SNP profile to find partial matches among existing users, then build a family tree to narrow down the suspect's identity. Despite MyHeritage’s explicit terms of service prohibiting law enforcement use, investigators have bypassed these restrictions by creating pseudonymous accounts or using personal credentials to access the database, as seen in the investigations of Joseph James DeAngelo and Jerry Arnold Westrom.
These actions have prompted legal scrutiny regarding the privacy of genetic data. In the case of Westrom, the defense argued that police violated a reasonable expectation of privacy by accessing his information on MyHeritage. However, the court ruled that while police might have breached the company's service agreement, this did not necessarily trigger constitutional protections for the suspect. Following these high-profile incidents, MyHeritage has tightened its policies, yet the tension between private genealogical research and public safety remains a complex, unresolved issue.
Today, the company continues to innovate, transitioning toward Whole Genome Sequencing and expanding its archive of historical newspapers. Acquired by Francisco Partners in 2021 for $600 million, MyHeritage remains a dominant force in the genealogy market. Whether through its facial recognition software or its massive DNA database, the company occupies a unique position at the intersection of personal heritage and modern forensic science.
Source: MyHeritage
