DNA-Colored Glasses

Here's an interesting health/technology/privacy issue for you: the ACLU's Blog of Rights talks about DNA testing for newborn infants (often useful since it can identify genetic disorders that might be treated), and what happens to the samples collected (often not specifically stated in any consent forms presented to parents).

The post notes

As you might imagine, DNA samples are valuable to different parties for different reasons. So it's now common for states to hold onto the blood samples for years, even permanently. Some states also use the samples for unrelated purposes, such as in scientific research, and give access to the samples — or even the samples themselves — to others.

I'm all about scientific research, but there are certain rules about informed consent and so forth that I think it's probably just as well we adhere to carefully, even if there might be some really really cool thing we could figure out by letting that adherence come a little unstuck.

Is it a big deal if the state hangs onto peoples' DNA samples from when they were born and makes use of them in various ways as the need arises?

I honestly don't really know. But as many ways as you can think that it would be extremely handy to have everyone's DNA on file, you can also think of ways that it's kind of disturbing.

For example, it will make it really easy for the killer robots to track you once they take over the government.

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