What could go wrong? The iron law of data collection, that’s what. It’s been a while since I’ve written about the iron law, so here’s a quick recap: The iron law states: Whenever the government (or anyone else for that matter) collects data, two things are guaranteed:
- No matter the reason given for its collection, it will be used for more and more purposes.
- It will inevitably be abused.
Through the years, I’ve provided several examples of the iron law in action. California’s collection and retention of babies’ DNA is only the latest and it exactly parallels what happened in Sweden1: the DNA was collected with the rationale that it was needed for the testing and treatment of genetic diseases. It wasn’t long before law enforcement started showing up with warrants. In California’s case, the state can even sell the data to third parties for “valid scientific studies.”
Although California mothers are supposed to be told that they can request that the data be destroyed, they often aren’t and even when they are it’s with a mass of other new born baby information that all but guarantees it won’t be read. Efforts to have parental consent be opt in was beaten back by vested interests. You can read the article for the details.
The point, though, is what it always is: if you allow the data to be collected it will eventually be abused. The only way to prevent that abuse is stop the collection or in the case of such things as testing for genetic diseases that the samples be destroyed as soon as the analysis is completed.
Footnotes:
Ironically, in that post I said that such collection would be blatantly illegal in the U.S. That shows what I know.