US Set on Expansion of Security DNA Collection

An anonymous reader dropped us a link to this New York Times article about a 'vast expansion' of DNA sampling here in the US. A little-noticed rider to the January 2006 renewal of the 'Violence Against Women Act' allows government agencies to collect DNA samples from any individual arrested by federal authorities, and from every illegal immigrant held for any length of time by US agents. The goal is to make DNA collection as routine a part of detainment as fingerprinting and photography. Privacy experts and immigrant rights groups are decrying this initiative already. Many are also skeptical of lab throughput, as FBI analysts indicate this may increase intake by as much as a million samples per year. There is already a backlog of 150,000 samples waiting to be entered into the agency's database.

Mod Parent Up

[Cyno01]

DNA is far from perfect. Semen in a rape case, victims blood on murderers clothes, those are workable applications. But when you hoover a crimescene and test everything, suddenly people with even multiple degrees of seperation become suspects. You may not have commited the murder, but your eyelash was found on the victim. It fell onto that guys shoulder that you bumped into on the street. He's the murderer.

private dna registrars

[DynamicPhil]

... well, we are all thinking of goverment as big brother - what about private contractors wanting this?
What will you do when goverment decides private firms (haliburton, or one of your private health insurance corporations) are the best entities to run these things. Outsourcing, anyone?

How do you absolutely guarantee that the DNA database wont be used for employee application selection, or for deciding your premium on your health insurance?

I'll just mention that Sweden has a (for medical use only - but that's currently under discussion) DNA database of all in sweden newborns since 1975 (if you havent specifically asked for non-participation), called the PKU database. It's still ongoing (my little dude was just last week registred - he's a couple of weeks)

Certain "high profile" crimes have been resulted in that the use of this database is under discussion - and the debate is for what uses this database could/should be used.

My hopes are that never, ever will this database be sent to the US/Feds/CIA (as flight iternaries are), and also that private corporation use is prohibited. Think of the society where your employer knows all about your DNA... (go see GATTACA).

Sad

[pubjames]

I'm a European, I love to travel, and I've recently decided I'm not going to travel to the USA until things improve there. How sad is that?

How quickly things can change...

Re:scary quote from the article

[Hognoxious]

Is truth an absolute defence against racism? If it turned out that 13% of ilegal immigrants did indeed have criminal records, surely it's just a statement of fact?

DNA and BIG BROTHER

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just a continuation of BIG BROTHER and centralized government. We have been headed toward a centralized BIG BROTHER government all of my life, 60 years. I just learned last night that we are going to all have a FEDERAL ID as of 2008. Just another small step. That's how they do it, one small step at a time. Then when we end up with no state rights and one CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, few will even notice that our Constitution is no longer valid and fewer yet will even complain and the ones that do will be squashed like a bug. The masses are so easy to fool it's almost funny, if it wasn't so serious.

My children are good examples. One of which is a national merit scholar, who totally expects and has excepted that we are going to have a totally controlling centralized government and thinks you would be crazy to question it and set yourself up as a target. There you go.....the game is already over, it's just a matter of time.

Re:scary quote from the article

[bhima]

I was just in the US and I was shocked at the increase of racist things my family & I were subjected to, as compared to around 5 years ago when we moved away from the US. I realize that's it is pretty obvious my girlfriend isn't Anglo (She's Cambodian) and our daughter is... well *ours* and that we don't speak English amongst ourselves. But I will never for the life of me understand why someone would use insults aimed at Mexicans at a family of mixed race speaking Czech in the US.

It amazes me how effectively the Mexicans have been turned into the new enemy in the US.

Re:scary quote from the article

[Mr. Slippery]

If it turned out that 13% of ilegal immigrants did indeed have criminal records, surely it's just a statement of fact?

There is a difference between "13% of people here illegally have been convicted of a crime in their home country," and "13% of people who are here illegally and who make enough trouble or slip up enough to get caught been convicted of a crime in their home country".

There's also a huge leap between "have a criminal record" and "have commited sexual assault".

The Kyl quote seems to skip lightly over both of these differences.

hospitals are already collecting dna

[objwiz]

For years, the hospitals have been collecting DNA from every live birth. They also have records of hand and foot prints. So I don't see whats the point of resisting this. The gov is collecting data on us left and right from the time we are born.

Re:Sad

[misanthrope101]

I lived in the UK (Lakenheath) from 90-93. I loved the cathedrals and castles, and the weather didn't bother me. I still remember trying to get to work and getting stuck behind a carrot truck, though. If you think the UK is expensive to travel in, try Japan. At least you can drive around your country, unlike the US which is just enormous. Fuel is much cheaper in the US, but everything is so spread out, unless you confine your travels to one region.

I guess it is different visiting somewhere than being a native. When I was visiting SE Asia I was very self-conscious about being the only American. But after being around other people I didn't feel so bad. I think the problem is that our own countries reflect on us, and the problems of other countries don't bother us too much. When I was in SE Asia I saw a man slap the hell out of a woman on the street. I found it shocking but I would have been more upset, and in a different way, if he had been an American. Same with our current President. If another head of state displays his, shall we say, intellectual capacity, it's just amusing, but if it's my President then I want to hide under the table. I guess everyone's like that. I wonder if I'll get modded "troll" again for saying that all is not sweetness and light in the USA. What's with people and the troll modding?

Re:dna is cool

[TheMeuge]

Polymorphism typing can provide you with ANY level of certainty you want. Typing each one will give you 50% certainty or better... so even assuming non-Mendelian distribution for some of them, if you sequence enough of them, you'll get your answer to the 1^-10 certainty.

But again, there may not be enough material on, say, a single hair follicle, to do all these tests... which is why using it on blood and semen samples is much more accurate.

But I agree with grandparent - while a DNA sample database isn't necessarily a bad thing theoretically, it is a huge violation of privacy practically-speaking.

another brick in the wall of safety.

[moerty]

i'm an immigrant to canada, my ultimate destination was the US until i saw how ape-shit crazy and nationalistic americans became after 9/11, so i stayed in canada. later i had to pass the border to get my passport stamped for the landed immigrant visa, i swear when i passed the border even the sun lost it's sparkle, everything was gray, the buildings were gray, the cars and people were gray, the only thing that was bright and pink were the grossly overweight G.I. Joe border patrol guards and their black/blue uniforms, guns were present EVERYWHERE! it was like dirty harry had become a place and was asking me if i was feeling lucky. i got my picture and fingerprints taken like a common criminal (under the kindly grimace of a framed picture of dick cheney hanging on the wall) and then had my papers stamped and got the hell out of there back to canada, back to freedom, somewhat. this DNA collection won't make things worse, they're already at rock bottom, i purposely missed my cousins wedding because it entailed doing a stop-over in new york and you know what? fuck america, i'm never spending a dime on an american comapny if i can avoid it and i'm not playing the little fascist game they have going on there. sorry i had to rant but it's sad to see what once was a vibrant and relatively open society that trumpeted it's freedom turn into a fear mongering, polarized and confontrational society. maybe it was always like that and it's just my illusions that got brought down to reality but i like to think that there was something special about the US before the '00's.