[ExI] fbi expands dna database

spike spike66 at att.net
Sun Apr 19 23:14:32 UTC 2009


 

>...On Behalf Of Fred C. Moulton
...
> Subject: Re: [ExI] fbi expands dna database
> 
> 
> On Sun, 2009-04-19 at 13:02 -0700, spike wrote:
> >  
> > This looks to me like it violates 4th amendment rights.
> >  
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/us/19DNA.html?_r=2
> >  
> >  Why isn't this causing widespread outrage?  It appears to 
> be slipping 
> > quietly under the radar.
> 
> When you say "under the radar" exactly what radar are you 
> talking about?...

Well, mine.  This is the first I had heard they were expanding it like this.

...
> http://www.eff.org/action/protectdna  So if anyone who is 
> signed up for the EFF email would have known about it long 
> ago.  I highly recommend getting the EFF email...

Thanks, I will get that now.  I am a big fan of EFF.  They were the ones who
put up a ton of money for finding record primes.  They have paid up thrice
now.

> 
> If you are asking why J. Random Person is not upset even if 
> they know about it; well that is an interesting question.
> 
> Fred
>

It is.  Consider a person who commits a felony.  The felon is forever a
suspect in subsequent felonies in the neighborhood, similar or otherwise.
So for that paradoxical reason, if she resolves to go straight henceforth,
it is actually to her advantage to be entered into the DNA database.  If she
doesnt resolve to go straight henceforth, well, then I do want her DNA in
the database, to reduce the risk of some innocent person being convicted for
her crimes.

Prisons contain people who were wrongly convicted, but who may have been
guilty of a previous similar crime.  (I personally met such a person in a
prison ministry during my misspent college years.)  This should help those
people, and perhaps free plenty who are currently wrongly convicted.  

On the other hand, it violates the fourth amendment.  This is a moral
dilemma, but when in doubt, I always assume the framers of the constitution
knew what they were doing, and any power grab outside of that framework is
dangerous.

spike


 




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