Using that viewpoint you are correct.
However, I am not a criminal and I will not allow my DNA to be taken even if I am arrested. That is my viewpoint. Or, are we once again, to give up a small piece of essential liberty in order to allow the state to supposedly keep us safer from criminals?
“give up a small piece of essential liberty in order to allow the state to supposedly keep us safer from criminals? “
I consider myself a libertarian in some ways, but we all have our quirks and one of mine is not caring too much about privacy. If anyone really wanted to find out stuff about me, I’m confident they could. If it bothers me, I can employ countermeasures, but calling the cops into it to make somebody stop looking at me does not strike me as a small government solution, nor as likely to be effective. I believe that all of us leave our DNA around unavoidably, and all over the place. The technology for identifying DNA segments is getting better and better and cheaper and cheaper, and private parties will quickly find ways to use it (most likely for marketing). The genie is out of the bottle, and anonymity, however valuable it may be, is no longer available. I suppose we could make a point of forbidding government entities from using tracking techniques that can’t be kept out of the hands of private parties, but once private databases exist (such as those maintained by Google, Facebook, or Amazon, augmented by “foolproof” identification security based on the users DNA [No more passwords!]), the government can just turn to them for the information about any of us that they think they need.
Also, the existence of a comprehensive DNA based database could serve other purposes than government overreaches. If we ever did want end unauthorized residence in our territory, it would help if we could determine just who any particular person was. Another plus would be that finding compatible tissue donors would be effortless.
Right. And once they have your DNA, of course, it could be preserved, even replicated, and introduced into any crime scene they like.
The potential for abuse is staggering.