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| Blogs > rm_debluvz2fck > Another Whisper In The Dark |
Back to an All Too Common Topic (or News in the World Today)
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Back to an All Too Common Topic (or News in the World Today) A girl was sexually assaulted on her high school<b> campus. </font></b>The police investigation wasn't going anywhere, so the government authorized subpoenas for DNA testing on over 500 men and boys, including students as young as 14, staff members, and visitors to the<b> campus </font></b>at the time of the assault. Some might cheer for that as a victory for victims' rights. But looking more closely at the process makes it appear insidious. The country was France. Be forewarned that your civil liberties don't exist there as they do here. That isn't the disturbing bit. Disturbing is the fact that three percent of the French population are currently registered in the French database and these 500 plus men and boys will likely join their ranks after agreeing to participate in a process which will exonerate them. The French authorities have agreed to destroy the DNA samples when the individuals are cleared of the crime. They have not, however, agreed to remove the DNA analysis from their database. Cleared of one crime, and the federal authorities can keep your information on file as they have for criminals across the country, just in case you screw up and commit a crime or father a . It could also be used in a lesser degree of what they presented in Gattica, that the individual could be viewed as fit or unfit based on DNA that was meant to maintain the individual's privacy. I'm enough of an advocate against violence against women to feel that a man who is, as an individual, accused of a sexual assault being forced to provide DNA evidence, but even that evidence should not be held in any database in the event that the man is found not to match the DNA evidence it was specifically collected to be compared against. We call that a fishing expedition. But France is different, and they are allowed to make determinations on the privacy of anyone residing within their borders. Maybe they will remove all of the information they collect, including the raw data, from their system after they have excluded the individuals from their search. I wouldn't trust any government to do that if it were my civil liberties at risk. I don't mind if the NSA chooses to listen in or record all of my phone calls and reads all of my emails and blog postings (if you're reading this one, leave a comment), but collecting my DNA without reason for suspecting me beyond we suspect it is one of 500 individuals in a category that you fall into? Take it from my corpse. I'm okay with certain violations of my privacy to ensure that the country is safe and that I am excluded when I am a prime suspect, but I'll be damned if I would allow myself to be walked over that way. Victims rights only go so far when they want to learn my full genetic makeup. I understand the girl's desire to have closure after the assault, but I wouldn't ask anyone to forgo such a personal aspect of their privacy to assure that justice was served. |
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I still like to believe we won't get as bad gattica. I would like to also think that there were lessons learned in Nuremberg. Plus, gattica was such a dull movie, i think i would fight the power to prevent that attrocity. But still a powerful story at the center of the controversy.
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