Re:EFF to Supreme Court: The Fourth Amendment Covers DNA Col...
by bayesianhorse on Thursday February 19, 2015 @11:49PM
(#9078983)
Protection from DNA collection is impossible, for the same reason the EFF wants to forbid it: We shed DNA all the time.
Currently, DNA does not contain "vast amounts of private information", and even the little amount we can get from it requires serious science and hundreds if not thousands of Dollars per sample to retrieve it. Currently it is more effective to prohibit specific abuses, like insurance tests.
In the future, DNA data will be as cheap and obvious as fingerprints, gender or body height. DNA sequencers will pick up human DNA all the time even by accident. Therefore, DNA and its information will be in plain sight, if we like it or not.
Fighting DNA collection will be a lot like fighting copyright piracy. The information is copied and distributed so easily, no way we can keep our DNA private.
Currently, DNA does not contain "vast amounts of private information", and even the little amount we can get from it requires serious science and hundreds if not thousands of Dollars per sample to retrieve it. Currently it is more effective to prohibit specific abuses, like insurance tests.
In the future, DNA data will be as cheap and obvious as fingerprints, gender or body height. DNA sequencers will pick up human DNA all the time even by accident. Therefore, DNA and its information will be in plain sight, if we like it or not.
Fighting DNA collection will be a lot like fighting copyright piracy. The information is copied and distributed so easily, no way we can keep our DNA private.