Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest

Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest

news.yahoo.com

The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency — a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.
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Using authority granted by Congress, the government also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. On one side, I'm no criminal and I don't mind the feds getting better at identifying those who are. On the other side, I wonder how widespread it will be and I'm not sure I agree with taking samples before someone has been charged with a crime. It always makes me think of "if you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide." I hate that logic, as true as it may be, but we should be able to keep a certain amount of privacy and personal space.

[rant]

Men were born free, and we supposedly created a government that would represent the individuals of the society. The Bill of Rights is great and all, but they are giving us rights back that we had to begin with, as if we gave everything up and then they graciously returned these freedoms. I'm tired of feeling like my government should be able to control daily aspects of people's lives. You can't burn leaves and inhale them. You can't have consensual sex in exchange for money, but if you film it then it's ok. Why are we, or they so concerned about how people live their lives? If ten people want to get married, fine. They're all the same sex? Whatever. It doesn't affect anything in my life at all, the world isn't going to fall apart. People lived before governments without submitting to chaos. We are capable of taking care of our selves, but we choose not to. As long as we're reliant upon them we will be controlled by their will, not the will of the people. Social welfare and the like only serve to bring more people under the governments wing. Not that we shouldn't help people, but it creates more and more of a reliance upon the system. I don't know, I'm rambling on here. Just thought I'd add something more than a summary of the article.

[/rant]

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I have no problem if it is collected if they are CONVICTED of a crime, and it is a violent felony. While yes we are all born free, the moment you decide to harm another human being, you give up your rights.

Originally posted by Parabol

I'm tired of feeling like my government should be able to control daily aspects of people's lives. You can't burn leaves and inhale them. You can't have consensual sex in exchange for money, but if you film it then it's ok. Why are we, or they so concerned about how people live their lives? If ten people want to get married, fine. They're all the same sex? Whatever. It doesn't affect anything in my life at all, the world isn't going to fall apart. People lived before governments without submitting to chaos. We are capable of taking care of our selves, but we choose not to.

Blame this country's religious foundation and its zealots.
Their book of judgment has been an intrusion from ever since.
Whats funny is people will condone the Raping of the constitution and complain about it later on...

Quantum science has made some very interesting discoveries regarding our DNA. Some would say that it is the essence of our souls. If so, it would be very disturbing to me if someone took some of mine.

More directly to the topic, why is that everytime our governments take something away from us, it is espoused as a way of protecting us? A bit more government protection and we'll soon have nothing left to protect.

Originally posted by Parabol
The Bill of Rights is great and all, but they are giving us rights back that we had to begin with, as if we gave everything up and then they graciously returned these freedoms.

Actually the Bill of Rights is a misnomer as it defines limitations on government powers rather than the installment of individual rights. It's easy to get confused on that though in the current environment. I encourage you to check out the Free State Project. If moving for freedom isn't your fancy however I am aware of a couple Ron Paul "cities" being organized there in Texas.

This move by the feds is nothing new. They want to know everything about everyone because they're a bunch of paranoid kitty cats. Funny thing is they're creating what they're so afraid of. Just another excuse for more power grabs.

For the record, when I sent my bribe payment off to the IRS last week, I made a point of not licking the envelope.

Originally posted by SystemiK

More directly to the topic, why is that everytime our governments take something away from us, it is espoused as a way of protecting us? A bit more government protection and we'll soon have nothing left to protect.

Great point, that bothers me a lot too. It's always to protect us from a greater evil, the "it could be worse" strategy, the "we're doing our best, we just need your help on this", the "Mission Accomplished."

Originally posted by apc
[
Actually the Bill of Rights is a misnomer as it defines limitations on government powers rather than the installment of individual rights.

Interesting, I wasn't quite looking at it that way but I see what you're saying. More of a we won't touch this, this and this, but everything else is fair game. And let's call it a separation of church and state, except for when we're electing our politicians and creating our laws.

Someone please explain to me how collecting DNA evidence from so many people is going to help reduce the rate of crime? I want to know how one thing relates directly to the other.

It says federal. At what point is something considered federal when they can take over a case to do this? Another issue might also be someone with nearly the same identical DNA which could mean a sibling or other relative?

Also, I would wonder about if this also something to do with tracking the possibility of clones, possibly in other areas of the world as well. Imagine a guy is arrested and his DNA matches crimes in other parts of the world. Would this than be considered a classified issue?

I've had personally what I believed was past experience with this issue more than once. About 10 years ago there was a facial reconstruction(?) on a skull which also resembles me, but, at a much earlier age along with a few friends of mine. Talk about your X-files. And "NO" I didn't get that from watching the Simpsons.

It may not be very long before our DNA is our mark and ID.