Could the government make knowing your DNA,and it's history mandatory? Do you care?

Yes, this would fly in the face of constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure and of privacy. As would mandatory paternity tests.

It could happen, but I don’t think we are close to that yet in America. We don’t even have mandatory fingerprints.

It would be really easy for the government to do it. Hospitals could do it at the time of birth. It’s expensive testing right now I think. Maybe there is a patent on the test that has expired? States pay for genetic testing when trying to prove who is the father of a baby, but I know in TN at least, if you are the father they make that man pay for the test.

I don’t think census can really demand to know your ethnicity. You can write in whatever you want, no one is making you prove you’re white or Hispanic on the census. Maybe you can even leave that part blank? The categories for race and ethnicity have changed over time anyway.

Doesn’t the government already know a lot of shit about us we think they don’t though? Science and technology are pretty badass, if they want to know something most people would not wanna say, we wouldn’t even know what they wanted to know. Or so I assume, that and I have no faith at all in society’s claim that the systems work in our favor.

From what I have read of the Osama Bin Laden assassination, the US was using the polio vaccine ,or test, as an excuse to trace DNA similar to Bin Laden’s .

The article indicated that the recently’tested’ area had several people who had similar DNA to OBL.

It gave them a clue he may be nearby, with his family.

This DNA collection was billed as a major contributing factor in the decision to further investigate this area.

It was at least a rung on the ladder.

Would you be OK with the government tracking you in this manner?

The BTK killer, Dennis Rader, was arrested twenty years after his last murder because law enforcement was able to compare DNA taken from his daughter’s pap smear with DNA from one of the victim’s fingernails.

While this is one case where they used DNA tomfoolery to get the big fish, I really don’t think it’s a good idea to make it common practice. You shouldn’t be on trial for murder because you slept on a friend’s couch 2 weeks before he killed his wife and the guy didn’t vacuum often enough.

States keep birth records, one form of identification required to register to vote. DNA might be use as a form of identification that would be difficult to steal. At this time, samples of DNA taken a crime scene can be compared with a suspect’s DNA taken with a swipe of the inside of the mouth.

However, DNA can provide more information than that. Genetic predilections such as susceptibility to specific illnesses, for example. This two-edged sword can be used to provide proactive treatment or to deny health insurance. The hacking of IRS and other agency files demonstrates that he governments ability to keep your information secure is poor.

That being said, I predict that databases of virtually everyone’s DNA in the world will be in government’s hands by the end of this century.

They already take DNA samples from all newborn babies.

I have done the Ancestry DNA test, as have my Aunt, sister, wife, cousin, and step daughter.

My brother insists that the government uses this information to build a DNA data bank to solve cold cases, and we are paying them to do it.

Personally, I believe one’s DNA should be handled as intellectual property.

They probably could get away with it, given the other mountains of improper laws that have been passed.

But I am totally against it. It’s a power grab, violates privacy, and decreases human rights and liberty for the sake of control and domination by the government and its corporate owners.

@Judi . Yeah ,you mentioned that on another thread. That was the origin of this thread.

HOW can they do that? Is it something written into the fine print of the paperwork you sign at the hospital?

I just know that my daughter argued and argued when giving birth. I didn’t look into it much but she was infuriated.

I was able to turn down the heel-stick when Ian was born. I said we knew plenty about his genetic heritage and we’re not worried. And then I made sure they never took him out of my sight. That was in 2008.

How odd…