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| -Land of the Free |
| Uncle Sam Wants Your DNA: The FBI's Diabolical Plan to Create a Nation of Suspects |
| 2019-01-24 |
| [Rutherford Institute] "As more and more data flows from your body and brain to the smart machines via the biometric sensors, it will become easy for corporations and government agencies to know you, manipulate you, and make decisions on your behalf. Even more importantly, they could decipher the deep mechanisms of all bodies and brains, and thereby gain the power to engineer life. If we want to prevent a small elite from monopolising such godlike powers, and if we want to prevent humankind from splitting into biological castes, the key question is: who owns the data? Does the data about my DNA, my brain and my life belong to me, to the government, to a corporation, or to the human collective?"―Professor Yuval Noah Harari Uncle Sam wants you. Correction: Uncle Sam wants your DNA. Actually, if the government gets its hands on your DNA, they as good as have you in their clutches. Get ready, folks, because the government‐ helped along by Congress (which adopted legislation allowing police to collect and test DNA immediately following arrests), President Trump (who signed the Rapid DNA Act into law), the courts (which have ruled that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime), and local police agencies (which are chomping at the bit to acquire this new crime-fighting gadget)‐is embarking on a diabolical campaign to create a nation of suspects predicated on a massive national DNA database. As the New York Times reports: "The science-fiction future, in which police can swiftly identify robbers and murderers from discarded soda cans and cigarette butts, has arrived. In 2017, President Trump signed into law the Rapid DNA Act, which, starting this year, will enable approved police booking stations in several states to connect their Rapid DNA machines to Codis, the national DNA database. Genetic fingerprinting is set to become as routine as the old-fashioned kind." Referred to as "magic boxes," these Rapid DNA machines‐portable, about the size of a desktop printer, highly unregulated, far from fool-proof, and so fast that they can produce DNA profiles in less than two hours‐allow police to go on fishing expeditions for any hint of possible misconduct using DNA samples. Journalist Heather Murphy explains: "As police agencies build out their local DNA databases, they are collecting DNA not only from people who have been charged with major crimes but also, increasingly, from people who are merely deemed suspicious, permanently linking their genetic identities to criminal databases." Suspect Society, meet the American police state. Every dystopian sci-fi film we’ve ever seen is suddenly converging into this present moment in a dangerous trifecta between science, technology and a government that wants to be all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #10 Imagine if Obama/Hillary had access to Trump's DNA and just decided to quietly make him sick and die before the election. It's quiet believable after what we have currently seen with deep state and the FBI. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2019-01-24 23:54 |
| #9 Plus the gov could develop perfect bugs to get just you. Designer targeted deniable diseases. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2019-01-24 23:52 |
| #8 I'm ambivalent. The argument that the ability to more easily I.D. "bad guys" (and "gals") with a (very) high level of confidence is compelling. But Scientia potentia est, and I don't believe that the government is here to help me. Definitions have become subject to flexibility and "context" as re-Tweeted and "liked" on FB. This is much more than annoying. Not sorry I'll be "checking out" soon (enough). |
| Posted by: Anomalous Sources 2019-01-24 21:27 |
| #7 TL;DR. Did they mention that we all leave samples of our DNA on our stool specimens, discarded paper cups, cigarette butts, used chewing gum, etc. etc. I sure wish someone would get one of Obama's old drinking cups for analysis. Might answer some questions. Law enforcement and the judiciary being what they have become, we are all unindicted felons anyway. We are already a nation of suspects, regardless of the evidence or the "rule of law". |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2019-01-24 11:57 |
| #6 Should regulate that DNA evidence should only be used to exclude people from suspicion. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-01-24 11:37 |
| #5 Is it really all that much worse than a fingerprint? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2019-01-24 11:33 |
| #4 Thought-provoking. It could be argued that a DNA is similar to a BAC test; it is just collecting evidence. On the other hand it could be argued both are invasions of privacy. Some years ago, as an accident reconstructionist, I was asked to obtain a DNA test in a double-fatality where both driver and passenger were "blind drunk." There was a question as to who was driving the car. They wanted me to try to establish that through concentrations of blood splatter using DNA. The attorney was trying to determine who to sue. I declined and said this was not in my wheelhouse and I didn't have the expertise. At the time, I didn't think too much about the ramifications beyond the capability of doing or not doing. I worry that we might be heading towards living the reality of the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report." That is, where probable cause, due process, rights to privacy and the right to not self-incriminate get tossed. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2019-01-24 10:03 |
| #3 #1 LOL |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-01-24 08:38 |
| #2 Personally, I consider the short tandem repeat test they use in legal DNA definition to be a farce, but then there's always somebody willing to testify that they're an expert, so there. The FBI once had a guy testify that he was an expert in evaluating laundry lines that show up in jeans, and could identify a masked suspect on that basis. Got a conviction. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2019-01-24 08:36 |
| #1 Personally, I believe that birth certificates shouldn't be classified as legal documents till there's a verification of the DNA for anyone listed as father. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-01-24 07:06 |