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White noise solution
September 5th, 2007

White noise solution

So, it’s obviously that time of the year again and we’re all talking about a national genetic database for all UK residents and visitors.

You probably know how I feel about this sort of thing, the infringement of personal freedoms and the use of large databases – neither a good thing.

The white noise solution is a possible work-around for those of you wanting to maintain your genetic anonymity if such a database comes to pass. Plus, being a government run database, it will most likely be riddled with all sorts of problems anyway.

The one problem that I have is that DNA evidence is viewed with a kind of infallibility. Mistakes do happen though, for example the poor bloke who the police linked, via DNA, to a burglary. They promptly marched round to his house and attempted to arrest him before it was pointed out that the man was clearly disabled and incapable of committing the crime for which he was accused.

 

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14 Comments

  1. The Great Joe Bivins Identicon Icon The Great Joe Bivins on 05.09.2007 at 14:17 (Reply)

    I was reading about chimerism the other day and how it’s supposed to be more common than they thought and that it has a tendency to screw up DNA tests since chimeras have two different DNA profiles and you get a different reading from them depending on where the sample is taken from.

  2. Ben Identicon Icon Ben on 05.09.2007 at 16:03 (Reply)

    That is the sad thing about jury’s. They are asked to pass judgement on ppl based on evidence that they do not understand.

  3. Steve Identicon Icon Steve on 05.09.2007 at 23:25 (Reply)

    SHit. Maybe that’s why no-one takes any notice of me. My parents always made me bath in that PCR stuff as a child…

  4. brahnamin Identicon Icon brahnamin on 06.09.2007 at 02:47 (Reply)

    okay, just eWwwww

  5. Seraphine Identicon Icon Seraphine on 06.09.2007 at 08:37 (Reply)

    Oh yuk, I’m not swabbing myself with unknown dna gathered from airports. The white noise is in one’s head anyways. That’s why iPods are so popular.

  6. Kingreaper Identicon Icon Kingreaper on 06.09.2007 at 12:05 (Reply)

    Dropping off the grid just keeps getting harder and harder.

    This does remind me of my plan for if I ever had to commit a major crime. Work in a blood bank for a while, collect some blood, and then sprinkle it all over the place while I’m doing whatever it is I have to do.

    Of course, you’d still need things like skin samples to dust around and hair, if you wanted to be truly secure, but it’s a good start.

  7. brahnamin Identicon Icon brahnamin on 07.09.2007 at 05:44 (Reply)

    Many strip malls have a nail salon and a beauty parlor side by side.

    and around back in the alley they have dumpsters

    Dumpster diving for dna – hair, skin, nails, all left over from the sweepings – all the good criminals are doing it!

  8. brahnamin Identicon Icon brahnamin on 07.09.2007 at 05:46 (Reply)

    that would be a good episode of CSI, with the killer leaving DNA from 10-20 different people scattered all over the scene of the crime.

    each crime a different dumpster

    each scene containing a mashup of different DNA

  9. Kingreaper Identicon Icon Kingreaper on 07.09.2007 at 06:38 (Reply)

    Actually, you want to leave the same set of DNA each time, otherwise they could spot that only one person’s DNA appears at every scene.

  10. brahnamin Identicon Icon brahnamin on 07.09.2007 at 06:47 (Reply)

    i thought of that, but there has to be some way to catch the guy at the end of 50 minutes

  11. Kingreaper Identicon Icon Kingreaper on 07.09.2007 at 06:53 (Reply)

    True, I was thinking in terms of how to commit the crime, not the fact the episode would have to end.

  12. Kingreaper Identicon Icon Kingreaper on 07.09.2007 at 06:55 (Reply)

    man, I just noticed I had the wrong address in all my other posts. That’s annoying.

    NOt that anyone would have clicked it anyway.

  13. Adam Identicon Icon Adam on 07.09.2007 at 09:09 (Reply)

    Kingreaper, I’ve sorted out the address for you, it happens to me all the time…

    …and good show about using the same DNA, a possible belt-and braces approach, but since creating a DNA test involves cutting up the strands at certain points, even using random samples each time could prove tricky enough to distinguish.

    Even then, I’m not sure how strongly the evidence would hold up in court under such circumstances, there being reasonable grounds that the perpetrator could just have taken your DNA and used it each time to throw forensics off the scent.

    And Brahnamin, I find that when most forensic/police shows need to conclude sharpish, nothing solves crime like serendipity.

  14. Kingreaper Identicon Icon Kingreaper on 07.09.2007 at 15:38 (Reply)

    “Heh, we just caught someone rooting through a dumpster” is said half-way through the second episode (it’s a two-parter) and then suddenly it all falls into place right at the end.

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