As a word person, I resent the violence politics does to the English language. It’s been going on for decades and it gets worse all the time. The best-known recent example is the USA Patriot Act, which in fact is a vehicle for stripping the rights away from law-abiding citizens. A new entry to the field is last year’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). While the VAWA does have some significant protections for women, it uses those protections as a cover to invade the rights of many who pose no threat to women or anyone men.
A little-debated provision allows the federal government to take a DNA sample from anyone arrested by a federal agent and place the information from that sample in a national database.
No doubt, the information contained in DNA can be a powerful tool of justice, as evidenced by the scores of people who have been released from prison – sometimes from death row – when DNA tests have shown that they did not commit the crimes they were convicted of. Conversely, a national database of DNA may show that a person arrested for a crime in one state has committed crimes in one or more other states.
Proponents of the national database say DNA sampling is like taking fingerprints, only better, because it can identify criminals who leave no fingerprints, but may leave semen, blood or hair at the scene of a crime.
Current law allows DNA samples from convicted felons to be placed in a national database. That’s fair; people convicted of felonies already lose certain rights like possessing firearms, getting a license to practice law and in some states, vote.
Taking DNA from anyone arrested by a federal agent is another story. Do we need a national database of DNA from people who were camping in a restricted area in a national park? How about people arrested while protesting against the Iraq war on the mall in Washington, DC? Over 1,000 people were arrested on a whim by the NYPD during the Republican National Convention in 2004. True, those were not federal officers in that instance, but such a move by federal police is not unthinkable. Been to an airport lately? How impressed are you with the level of judgement and professionalism of the screeners of the Transportation Security Administration? They are poorly qualified, poorly trained and poorly paid – but they are federal officers. Get busted for say, toothpaste smuggling, and your DNA winds up in a national database. The most populous group arrested by federal agents is undocumented immigrants. Thousands of people each year cross the border; most to find work doing jobs Americans don’t want. Taking and storing DNA from these folks is unfair to them and a waste of resources for us.
It’s important to note that DNA is not a fingerprint. Fingerprints will merely identify an individual; DNA will give you a roadmap to that person’s body, their family history and their medical future. Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid – or DNA – is in every cell in our body. We inherit half of it from our mother, half from our father. We unlock more of the secrets of DNA every day, but we can already look a t person’s DNA and tell how well they will age, if they’re likely to get diabetes or heart disease or certain kinds of cancer.
The government would never abuse information it has on its citizens, would it? The news reports this week that the FBI cannot account for the whereabouts of 160 computers and 160 weapons. In 2002, the FBI couldn’t account for the whereabouts of 317 computers and 354 weapons, so I suppose this recent report represents progress, but do you want to trust these folks with your DNA? The federal government – the keepers of DNA – cannot account for more than $8 billion in tax dollars that disappeared in Iraq. Agents of the federal government routinely loses laptops computers with nuclear secrets or the social security numbers of tens of thousands of veterans.
I have two letters on my desk; both received in the last two weeks. One’s from the state of Vermont, one’s from my credit union. Both apologize because they posted my social security number – and that of thousands of other people – on websites.
Those are inadvertent exposures. Our is corrupt administration, that will sell any part of the people’s property to any crony willing to make a campaign contribution – think Jack Abramoff, Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Kyle “Dusty” Foggo. I’d like to think future administrations will be more honorable, but I’ve lived too long to really believe that. Imagine a person who at 20 years old got caught toothpaste smuggling or careless camping. Fifteen years later, this now-responsible citizen with a spouse and two kids gets a letter from an insurance company saying she or he cannot have coverage because the data the government just sold it indicates a propensity for high blood pressure.
A national DNA database, link phone taps and national identity cards and showing your passport when you come back from Canada, is another step away from liberty and toward totalitarianism. Resist it.
Skin Cell, Jail Cell
As a word person, I resent the violence politics does to the English language. It’s been going on for decades and it gets worse all the time. The best-known recent example is the USA Patriot Act, which in fact is a vehicle for stripping the rights away from law-abiding citizens. A new entry to the field is last year’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). While the VAWA does have some significant protections for women, it uses those protections as a cover to invade the rights of many who pose no threat to women or anyone men.
A little-debated provision allows the federal government to take a DNA sample from anyone arrested by a federal agent and place the information from that sample in a national database.
No doubt, the information contained in DNA can be a powerful tool of justice, as evidenced by the scores of people who have been released from prison – sometimes from death row – when DNA tests have shown that they did not commit the crimes they were convicted of. Conversely, a national database of DNA may show that a person arrested for a crime in one state has committed crimes in one or more other states.
Proponents of the national database say DNA sampling is like taking fingerprints, only better, because it can identify criminals who leave no fingerprints, but may leave semen, blood or hair at the scene of a crime.
Current law allows DNA samples from convicted felons to be placed in a national database. That’s fair; people convicted of felonies already lose certain rights like possessing firearms, getting a license to practice law and in some states, vote.
Taking DNA from anyone arrested by a federal agent is another story. Do we need a national database of DNA from people who were camping in a restricted area in a national park? How about people arrested while protesting against the Iraq war on the mall in Washington, DC? Over 1,000 people were arrested on a whim by the NYPD during the Republican National Convention in 2004. True, those were not federal officers in that instance, but such a move by federal police is not unthinkable. Been to an airport lately? How impressed are you with the level of judgement and professionalism of the screeners of the Transportation Security Administration? They are poorly qualified, poorly trained and poorly paid – but they are federal officers. Get busted for say, toothpaste smuggling, and your DNA winds up in a national database. The most populous group arrested by federal agents is undocumented immigrants. Thousands of people each year cross the border; most to find work doing jobs Americans don’t want. Taking and storing DNA from these folks is unfair to them and a waste of resources for us.
It’s important to note that DNA is not a fingerprint. Fingerprints will merely identify an individual; DNA will give you a roadmap to that person’s body, their family history and their medical future. Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid – or DNA – is in every cell in our body. We inherit half of it from our mother, half from our father. We unlock more of the secrets of DNA every day, but we can already look a t person’s DNA and tell how well they will age, if they’re likely to get diabetes or heart disease or certain kinds of cancer.
The government would never abuse information it has on its citizens, would it? The news reports this week that the FBI cannot account for the whereabouts of 160 computers and 160 weapons. In 2002, the FBI couldn’t account for the whereabouts of 317 computers and 354 weapons, so I suppose this recent report represents progress, but do you want to trust these folks with your DNA? The federal government – the keepers of DNA – cannot account for more than $8 billion in tax dollars that disappeared in Iraq. Agents of the federal government routinely loses laptops computers with nuclear secrets or the social security numbers of tens of thousands of veterans.
I have two letters on my desk; both received in the last two weeks. One’s from the state of Vermont, one’s from my credit union. Both apologize because they posted my social security number – and that of thousands of other people – on websites.
Those are inadvertent exposures. Our is corrupt administration, that will sell any part of the people’s property to any crony willing to make a campaign contribution – think Jack Abramoff, Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Kyle “Dusty” Foggo. I’d like to think future administrations will be more honorable, but I’ve lived too long to really believe that. Imagine a person who at 20 years old got caught toothpaste smuggling or careless camping. Fifteen years later, this now-responsible citizen with a spouse and two kids gets a letter from an insurance company saying she or he cannot have coverage because the data the government just sold it indicates a propensity for high blood pressure.
A national DNA database, link phone taps and national identity cards and showing your passport when you come back from Canada, is another step away from liberty and toward totalitarianism. Resist it.
© Mark Floegel, 2007