IP: dna

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 12:04:07 -0800
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Tom Goltz <tgoltz () computer org>
> Subject: Item I found interesting...
>
> The following item reminds me strongly of the movie 'Gattaca' and leaves me
> wondering how close we may be to that future.
>
> > From the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
> Alert (Volume 6.04 March 4, 1999):
>
> Attorney General Janet Reno has asked a federal commission to study the 
> possibility of requiring that a DNA sample be collected from every 
> person arrested in the United States and permanently kept in a national 
> database. Reno asked the National Commission on the Future of DNA 
> Evidence to look into the plausibility of genetic sampling on everyone 
> arrested, including for minor traffic violations, at a meeting of the 
> Commission in Dallas last week.
> If the proposal is adopted, the DNA database would be quite large. In 
> 1997, over 15 million people were arrested in the US. Currently, the 
> law allows only individuals convicted for a few crimes including sex 
> offenders to have their DNA collected. The FBI Combined Index DNA 
> Indexing System (CODIS) currently contains information on 38,000 
> people. Another 450,000 samples are awaiting processing. Reno suggested 
> at a press conference in January that in the future police could verify 
> the identity of a detained motorist by means of an onsite DNA test and 
> advanced police computers.
> Civil libertarians argued against the increased collection at the 
> meeting, saying that mass collection of DNA would be an illegal search 
> with little purpose in most cases, especially for minor crimes. There 
> are concerns that the DNA samples collected could also be used for 
> other purposes, such as research into genetic issues, or be released to 
> others such as insurance companies. The US Defense Department has began 
> to collect samples of all persons in the military and plans to keep the 
> samples indefinitely for other uses such as research.
> Some states are already moving forward on testing. Louisiana will begin 
> testing all persons arrested in September and New York and North 
> Carolina are considering doing the same. New York City Mayor Rudolf 
> Guiliani went one step further and suggested last month that all 
> children should have a sample of their DNA taken at birth for use in 
> future criminal investigations. The Commission is planning to respond 
> to Reno's request in August.
>
>
> Tom Goltz
> Software Engineering Services
> (949) 726-9360
> (949) 726-9307 (fax)