DNA Databases and Your Rights By Christine Rosen Posted: Friday, October 17, 2003
ARTICLE National Review Online
In October 2003, EPPC Fellow Christine Rosen debated the constitutionality of DNA databases on National Review Online. She previously wrote about this subject in an article called "Liberty, Privacy, and DNA Databases" in the Spring 2003 issue of The New Atlantis, EPPC's critically-acclaimed journal about technology and society.
Round 1
"As well, these databases are not institutions tested — and tempered — by the passage of time. The first conviction using DNA evidence came in 1987. Within a decade, every state had established a DNA database — all with their own rules. But although the analysis of DNA evidence has proven to be an extraordinarily useful addition to traditional police work, the verdict is still out on the effectiveness of DNA databases." [Click here to read the entire first round.]
Round 2
"There is certainly a plausible case to be made that these databases do violate the Fourth Amendment as the U.S. Supreme Court has construed it. ... Ultimately, we need to examine not only the practical challenges posed by existing DNA databases, but also to ask if we want to live in a society where we've created the architecture for genetic surveillance so vast that, eventually, we might all be subject to its relentless scrutiny." [Click here to read the entire second round.]
Round 3
"Unlike a fingerprint, DNA does much more than merely identify you: it can potentially tell you—and the police, and the government, and your employer, and your insurance company—something about your future." [Click here to read the entire third round.]
