James,
As a retired peace officer also (SDCPD) I too am concerned.
Recently I found the following article on the State of California saving
baby blood samples since 1983 without destroying them after any period of
time. Then the State mandates the program to sell the data to to reduce the
cost! Talk about a privacy issue! See below.
No ifs and or buts about it, we live in a world where the illusion of
privacy is very thin. How many people forget that anything put on the
internet is never ever destroyed. Everything is backed up and backed up.
And ALL such things can be used by crooks and others against you.
It is a scary world if you are not aware and educated about it.
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA USA
Carpenter Cousins Project - Our main support page!
https://carpentercousins.com
ARTICLE:
DNA of every baby born in California is stored. Who has access to it?
UPDATED ON: MAY 14, 2018
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-biobank-dna-babies-who-has-access/
Selected quotes:
SAN FRANCISCO -- You probably know where your Social Security card, birth
certificate and other sensitive information is being stored, but what about
your genetic material? If you or your child was born in California after
1983, your DNA is likely being stored by the government, may be available to
law enforcement and may even be in the hands of outside researchers, CBS San
Francisco's Julie Watts reports.
Like many states, California collects bio-samples from every child born in
the state. The material is then stored indefinitely in a state-run biobank,
where it may be purchased for outside research.
...
Regulations require that the California Genetic Disease Screening Program to
be self-supporting.
"It has to pay for itself," Lorey noted. Allowing outside researchers to buy
newborn bloodspots helps to recoup costs.
...
You do have the right to ask the biobank to destroy the leftovers after the
fact, though the agency's website states it "may not be able to comply with
your request."
You also have the right to find out if your child's blood spots have been
used for research, but you would have to know they were being used in the
first place and we've discovered that most parents don't. ...
How many people are in this California database? Using the following article
...
https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article211330979.html
California’s birth rate fell to its lowest level in at least 100 years
during 2017, even dipping below rates seen in the Great Depression,
according to new figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
About 471,500 California babies were born in 2017, down by 17,000, or 3
percent, from 2016, according to the CDC data, which is provisional. Births
also fell nationwide.
The state’s birth rate fell to 11.9 births per 1,000 residents. By
comparison, there were about 21 births per 1,000 residents in 1990. During
the height of the Great Depression, there were 13.1 births per 1,000
Californians.
...
Per the table, CALIFORNIA BIRTHS BY RACE, 2007-2017: some 559,092 children
were born in 2007 and 315,708 in 2017. This table conflicts with the 2017
birth number of 471,500 cited above in the article. The discrepancy is not
explained.
Assuming an average of 450 K per year over 34 years (2017-1983=34) this is
approximately 15,300,000 or 15.3 million DNA samples held by just one state
biobank.
I wonder it the European Union (EU) does the same thing? Apparently so. The
following article talks about collection requirements but nothing about DNA
sample destruction.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5362556/
...
-----Original Message-----
From: James Carpenter via CARPENTER
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2019 1:36 PM
To: carpenter(a)rootsweb.com
Cc: James Carpenter
Subject: [CARPENTER] Re: Could the USA have a GDPR type law?
Of interest to me would be a law or policy that would protect my DNA from
being collected by the government. As a retired law enforcement officer, the
current trend is disconcerting to me.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 3:58 PM, John R. Carpenter<jrcrin001(a)gmail.com>
wrote: Hello,
For those interested in internet privacy, the USGAO office is now (Jan 2019)
recommending an European Union type internet privacy law be implemented.
Background: In May 2018, the European Union implemented the General Data
Protection Regulation, a set of Internet privacy rules that give consumers
control over the collection, use, and sharing of their personal information.
In addition, California passed its own Internet privacy law in June 2018
that becomes effective in 2020.
The United States does not have a similar comprehensive data privacy law at
the federal level and instead relies in part on an industry-specific
(sectoral) privacy approach.
See the link and more details below.
I hope this is interesting.
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA USA
Carpenter Cousins Project - Our main support page!
https://carpentercousins.com
United States Government Accountability Office
Report to the Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of
Representatives
INTERNET PRIVACY
Additional Federal Authority Could Enhance Consumer Protection and Provide
Flexibility
Dated January 2019
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696437.pdf
<SNIP>