Our Awful Situation

Feds to Collect Millions of DNA Profiles Yearly, Stay Out if You Can

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 13th, 2008

Sorry, I know I’ve used this line before but its a “brave new world”, ur…maybe its 1984…or Minority Report…

The feds will soon be collecting about one million DNA samples a year under a new program that lets federal agents collect cheek swabs from citizens merely arrested for any federal crime or from any non-citizen detained by federal agents — including visitors to the country who have visas.

The intent is build a massive database of DNA samples (.pdf) that police can use to catch rapists and murderers, but even the innocent should fear being in the database, due to the vagaries of how cold case DNA searches can easily pinpoint an innocent person.

Thanks to an amendment in the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 that was sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), the feds now have the authority to immediately take DNA from any arrestee or ‘detained’ non-citizen and immediately upload it to the FBI’s CODIS database. That database is currently fed by federal law enforcement agencies and all 50 states, a few of which collect and upload DNA samples from people arrested, but not convicted of a crime.

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Our Awful Situation

Feds to Collect Millions of DNA Profiles Yearly, Stay Out if You Can

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