DNA Databases in the U.S. and China Are Tools of Racial Oppression
Two major world powers, the United States and China, have both collected an enormous number of DNA samples from their citizens, the premise being that these samples will help solve crimes that might have otherwise gone unsolved. While DNA evidence can often be crucial when it comes to determining who committed a crime, researchers argue these DNA databases also pose a major threat to human rights.
In the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a DNA database called the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that currently contains over 14 million DNA profiles. This database has a disproportionately high number of profiles of black men, because black Americans are arrested five times as much as white Americans. You don't even have to be convicted of a crime for law enforcement to take and store your DNA; you simply have to have been arrested as a suspect.
[...] As for China, a report that was published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in mid-June claims that China is operating the "world's largest police-run DNA database" as part of its powerful surveillance state. Chinese authorities have collected DNA samples from possibly as many as 70 million men since 2017, and the total database is believed to contain as many as 140 million profiles. The country hopes to collect DNA from all of its male citizens, as it argues men are most likely to commit crimes.
DNA is reportedly often collected during what are represented as free physicals, and it's also being collected from children at schools. There are reports of Chinese citizens being threatened with punishment by government officials if they refuse to give a DNA sample. Much of the DNA that's been collected has been from Uighur Muslims that have been oppressed by the Chinese government and infamously forced into concentration camps in the Xinjiang province.
Related:
EFF to Supreme Court: The Fourth Amendment Covers DNA Collection
EFF Sues Justice Dept. Over FBI's Rapid DNA Plans
Kuwait Creating Mandatory DNA Database of All Citizens, Residents--and Visitors
San Diego Police Department Accused of Unlawful DNA Collection From Minors
Massive DNA Collection Campaign in Xinjiang, China
Study Predicts Appearance From Genome Sequence Data
GEDmatch: "What If It Was Called Police Genealogy?"
Bavarian Law Broadens Police Surveillance and DNA Profiling Powers
DNA Collected from Golden State Killer Suspect's Car, Leading to Arrest
Another Alleged Murderer Shaken Out of the Family Tree
Indiana Murder Suspect Found by Using Genealogical Website
Public Ancestry Data Can be Used to Narrow Down the Identity Behind an Anonymous DNA Sample
Rapid DNA Analysis Machines Coming to Police Departments
FamilyTreeDNA Deputizes Itself, Starts Pitching DNA Matching Services To Law Enforcement
Genealogy Sites Have Helped Identify Suspects. Now They've Helped Convict One
U.S. to Collect DNA of All Undocumented Migrants
US Court Let Police Search GEDmatch's Entire DNA Database Despite Protections
China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West
Cousin Took a DNA Test? Courts Could Use it to Argue You are More Likely to Commit Crimes
Ancestry Says Police Requested Access To Its DNA Database
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2020, @04:08PM (3 children)
It is so weird that democratic ideology does seem to be gradually headed towards 'separate but equal' all over again. I mean do people not understand that this is exactly what something like a 'racially segregated safe space' is? Does really feel like the politically correct nonsense is just an effort to do the same dumb ideas as we tried in the past and pretend it might yield a different result.
I kind of feel like we're gradually seeing another role reversal. The republican party of Lincoln was obviously a far cry from the republican party of the early to mid/late 20th century. Yet today the democratic party aiming for racial categorization if not segregation, muzzling of free speech, equality of result, and actively working to inflame racial and social tensions at any opportunity is obviously already a far cry from the democratic party of the sixties which aimed for free speech and equality of opportunity. Democrats in California are currently trying to get rid of proposition 209. [wikipedia.org] Proposition 209 is the "Prohibition Against Discrimination or Preferential. Treatment by State and Other Public Entities. Initiative Constitutional Amendment." Here is its ballot summary:
They are literally trying to roll back discrimination protections. The democratic party is becoming such a messed up institution.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @02:52AM (2 children)
You should actually look at what that ideology is. It's not what you think.
https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ [democrats.org]
DNC Platform [wikipedia.org]:
There's more. But I know you won't try to educate yourself. Do you get decent wifi under your bridge?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @03:39PM (1 child)
Here [wikipedia.org] is the 'Fascist Manifesto'. It was the stated principles upon which Mussolini's fascist party claimed to stand for.
You might find something interesting. You probably agree with just about everything in it. And that's okay. They're generally good ideals. The point is that what a party claims to stand for and how that party acts are two very different things. I couldn't care less what a politician says, let alone a political group - I care how they act. And in modern times the DNC is becoming one hell of a scary organization. I tend to agree with their ideals on paper, but in practice I absolutely abhor what the DNC has turned into.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 09 2020, @01:06AM
> but in practice I absolutely abhor what the DNC has turned into.
Reagan Republicans, yeah. I'm with you on that.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...