| While universal genetic sampling probably isn't on the books in the near future, there's an obvious risk of mission creep with samples already collected for another purpose. Here in Norway we've got an ongoing case in which the police (in Bergen, the same precinct which got the Isdalen case in the parent article in their laps) collected DNA samples from any male who volunteered to provide one to be checked out of a rape case. (They used cell phone position data to determine who had been in the immediate area around the time of the rape). Anyone who provided a sample were assured that the sample would be destroyed once they were checked out - as would any data derived from it. Guess what. The samples still exist, the unexpected twist being that the police wants to destroy them to keep up the populace's trust. The national archives are the ones trying to preserve the samples on the grounds that they are, by law, material which fall under the authority of the national archives. If the samples are in the end preserved, guess what: a) Noone will ever volunteer DNA ever again, and: b) Someone will at some point cross-reference the samples against other unsolved crimes, just in case. |