Big Brother is still watching you and now he's cataloging your DNA

The Bill Nobody Noticed

"In April of 2008, President Bush signed into law S.1858 which allows the federal government to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. This was to be implemented within 6 months meaning that this collection is now being carried out. Congressman Ron Paul states that this bill is the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database."

S. 1858:
110th Congress: Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007

Purpose:

To establish, maintain, and operate a system to assess and coordinate treatment relating to congenital, genetic, and metabolic disorders.

disseminate such report on as wide a basis as practicable, including through posting on the internet clearinghouse established under section 1112.


Those with access to the database:

(b) Eligible Entity- In this section, the term `eligible entity' means--
(1) a State or a political subdivision of a State;
(2) a consortium of 2 or more States or political subdivisions of States;
(3) a territory;
(4) a health facility or program operated by or pursuant to a contract with or grant from the Indian Health Service; or
(5) any other entity with appropriate expertise in newborn screening, as determined by the Secretary.

Ron Paul says:

“Those of us in the medical profession should be particularly concerned about policies allowing government officials and state-favored interests to access our medical records without our consent … My review of S. 1858 indicates the drafters of the legislation made no effort to ensure these newborn screening programs do not violate the privacy rights of parents and children, in fact, by directing federal bureaucrats to create a contingency plan for newborn screening in the event of a ‘public health’ disaster, this bill may lead to further erosions of medical privacy. As recent history so eloquently illustrates, politicians are more than willing to take, and people are more than willing to cede, liberty during times of ‘emergency.”

Government Censoring Health Information

U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks 'Abortion'

A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.

Never mind the censorship issue that this completely obliterates freedom of the press or information, how about that health issue?

You know, things like "Uterine Infections" or "Hemorrhaging" or other things that might be legit reasons for the health need of terminating a pregnancy.

Not giving someone the ability to choose with a full range of facts? Bad. Censoring health information that could endanger people's lives? Fucked up.

Google, you little ragamuffin, what do you need my information for 9 months for, anyways?

Yahoo to anonymize logs after 90 days

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Kevin Bankston discusses the news that Yahoo! will radically reduce the retention period for its logs, anonymizing them after just 90 days (compared with Google's 9 months)."

I admit to being a hard core Google-ite, however, if this is true, I will probably switch.