= new reply since forum marked as read
This seems similar to me. It looks like until we are all numbered with tattoos or bonegrafts, the various government agencies; "investigators" will continue to invade the privacy of American citizens as much as they can - with the gleeful support of most of our politicians. Consider the continued existence and promotion of the so called "Patriot Act" - they can call this ugly monster by different names, but it remains an ugly monster nonetheless.
Those who insist that they "have nothing to hide" are ignoring the potential for (and almost inevitability of) abuse. Of course these companies say law enforcement demands for genetic information are rare - and they will claim this whether it is true or not, because they do not want to frighten their customers. There is, however, no strong safeguard in place to protect your privacy.
Consider the current makeup of our government. Consider how many people are working within it who are racist, xenophobic, corrupt, those who act with deliberate malice against minorities, the poor - and everyone who isn't a campaign donor. Now imagine them with someone like Donald Trump ("Let's build a wall to keep out the Mexicans - and ban Muslims/force them to register"
or Ted Cruz ("Let's Patrol Muslim neighborhoods" at the helm. How would such information be used by such individuals given their partisan strength in the house and Senate? Would there be any serious oversight? When people have the power to claim your very DNA without a conviction or even indictment... we are living in dangerous times.
The continued over-reach of government agencies and investigators, the fact that the media largely ignores it and the public is largely unaware... is more than a little disturbing.
It's one thing when you have a warrant, it's one thing when you have something beyond reasonable suspicion - but how many of our rights... how much of our privacy... will we allow to be taken away before we do something about it?
