AND DNA
UPI reports that the British DNA database has now grown to 3 million records. Soon it's expected to reach 4.25 million samples or 1 in every 14 people. The policy is to record and keep samples of those convicted, as well as those acquitted, arrested but not charged and victims.
It doesn't take Steven Spielberg to write the script for the movie here. The potential for privacy damage is astronomical. The DNA database could be used to manage health care by dropping the genetically ill, family relationships could be uncovered that are better left unsaid and some dark day, there might be a reason why a particularly intolerant government might want to discover everyone who had a specific ethnic background. Pogroms are much easier with DNA data bases.
I reocgnize the value for law enforcement. What I'd prefer to see would be very strict accountability standards for usage of the DNA. Absent that, the collections should not happen. Think of massive repositories of personal information like an atomic weapon. Even if it's never used, the idea that it's out there somewhere keeps many people from sleeping well at night.
Posted on January 06, 2006
