Ethan Ackerman on forcible DNA extraction from Americans by ALL cops for ANY reason, including immigrants

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/09/26/white-house-supports/

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] forcible DNA extraction from Americans by ALL
cops for ANY reason - not just Feds., includes immigrants
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:00:37 -0400
From: Ethan Ackerman <eackerma@u.washington.edu>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>

Declan, it is worth noting the Kyl-Cornyn bill expands DNA collection in
SEVERAL directions, some missed by Jonathan Krim in his Post article.  The
bill grants states carte blanche to write laws allowing collection, not just
for convicted offenses - (i.e. as a condition of getting a drivers license!)
The only limiting language for state collection grants is - states can only
collect pursuant to "applicable legal authority" - which means, roughly,
anything the state passes a law for.

Also, the expansion of federal authority is worth noting, which Mr. Krim
didn't write about - it is likely to be the most contentious, because it
allows , among other things, compulsory testing of any detained immigrants.
Most people think of "detained" immigrants as just those caught at illegal
border-crossing attempts, but, thanks to the convoluted immigration system
we have, even visiting foreign scholars in the visa application system may
be considered detained at some points in processing...

Anyone who is "arrested or detained under the authority of the United
States" is now subject, not just convicted felons.

The bill is here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.01606:

The CRS summary is definitely worth reading

-Ethan Ackerman
Posted by Declan McCullagh on Sep 26, 2005 in category privacy