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2002 L. Rev. M.S.U.-D.C.L. 927 (2002)
Privacy Protection Is Needed for DNA

handle is hein.journals/mslr2002 and id is 943 raw text is: PRIVACY PROTECTION IS NEEDED FOR DNA Thomas F. Wieder 2002 L. REv. M.S.U.-D.C.L. 927 When I was preparing to address this conference, I thought back to my earliest memory of anything to do with genetics. When I was twelve, James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work with DNA. In science classes, we were told of the importance of their discoveries, and I remember seeing illustrations and museum models of the double-helix DNA molecule. Few then could have foreseen the technical, ethical and, yes, legal implications of their work. I suspect that, if you asked a random sample of Americans what comes to mind when DNA is mentioned, the largest number would recall that DNA evidence was not good enough to convict O.J. Simpson. Or perhaps, more optimistically, it might be that the largest number today would say that DNA evidence is being used to clear innocent persons wrongly convicted of crimes. I doubt that many would say that DNA, or genetic science in general, poses a threat to their personal privacy and other important rights. In the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), we are accustomed to the accusation of being doomsayers and Cassandras, imagining all sorts of harms to come from seemingly harmless, or even positive, developments in society. The field of genetics is no exception. For all of the positive prospects of this rapidly developing science - from making criminal justice outcomes more just to preventing or treating disease - there are also great risks. The information that can be used for these good ends can also be used to discriminate and deny opportunities. Efforts to collect such information can become intrusive, even harassing. What, specifically, are some of the threats that we see? Let us begin with the criminal justice system. The use of DNA evidence to build a case against an individual who is reasonably suspected, based on other evidence, of committing a crime is a positive addition to responsible law enforcement. The use of DNA evidence to clear a person of suspicion would cheer any civil libertarian. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies have already shown a propensity to go much further-to use DNA technology in disturbing ways. A notable example occurred just a few years ago in Ann Arbor, during an investigation of a serial rapist described by one of the victims as a six-foot tall * Thomas F. Wieder, J.D., University of Michigan Law School, is an attorney in private practice in Ann Arbor and is a member of the Privacy and Technology Committee of the ACLU of Michigan.