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A DNA registry for migrants. Imagine the ugly possibilities of having a marginalized group of people that large cataloged according to their DNA, and that catalog being in the hands of the state. I know folks are focused on Ukraine, but this is a whole thing.
We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, including children. With evolving technologies, the potential surveillance applications of a massive DNA registry are ominous af.
And think about the normalization of that practice. Here, the mass collection of DNA is associated w the supposed criminality of immigrants in detention. On our current trajectory, the dragnet for criminalization in our society is just gonna keep getting wider. Worth considering.
Local law enforcement agencies in multiple states have already figured out how to avoid the legal restrictions the FBI is supposedly subject to when collecting DNA. They've teamed up with private databases to apply DNA tech to crimes as minor as vandalism. digg.com/2016/dna-dragn…
"Private DNA databases have multiplied as testing technology has become more sophisticated and sensitive, enabling labs to generate profiles from so-called 'touch' or 'trace' DNA consisting of as little as a few skin cells." digg.com/2016/dna-dragn…
China uses a massive DNA database to target and identify Uighurs. An American scientist helped them figure out how to go about it. Like the U.S., China claims it needs its massive DNA database to fight crime.
nytimes.com/2019/02/21/bus…
nytimes.com/2019/02/21/bus…
ICE has already used rapid DNA tests to "test" whether groups of migrants who identify as families are really related. Obviously, ppl can be family in a non-DNA sense, but beyond that, who trusts ICE to mange that kind of on the spot testing? With a family separation tool?
Basically, what's being proposed here is much bigger and much worse and there's a really worrisome sprawl factor in play. It's high key fascist fuckery.
Good point.
Bode Cellmark Forensics Inc. was paid $5.2 million to provide the tech for ICE's rapid DNA test effort that identified what ICE calls "fraudulent families." The company signed a 10 month contract with ICE in June.
ice.gov/news/releases/…
ice.gov/news/releases/…
And while we're on the dystopian, anti-immigrant tech stuff, I would be remiss if I did not mention that ICE is using facial recognition technology to hunt down immigrants in sanctuary cities.
truthout.org/articles/facia…
truthout.org/articles/facia…
For more on the tech companies that are fueling deportations:
nationalimmigrationproject.org/PDFs/community…
nationalimmigrationproject.org/PDFs/community…
