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California law Passed: Children Should Not be Exposed By DNA | EFF Victory

The California Bill signed A.B. 1584 has been signed into law by the governor Jerry Brown according to which the law enforcement entities could not collect a DNA sample of a minor without getting judicial approval or consent from the minor and a parent, legal guardian, or attorney.

Since the introduction of this bill by assembly member Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the EFF has supported the legislation.

The main reason behind the propulsion of the bill is the fact that the DNA can reveal a great amount of personal information of an individual including the family relationship, medical history, the susceptibility of a disease.

The law will make sure that the kids have a common sense of the protection against illegal DNA collection. The minors should not be a victim to such extraordinary private intrusion without strict supervision and the guidance and consent from a parent, legal guardian or attorney.

It is necessary that the children have an adult present who mirror their interests along with guiding them to understand their rights and long-term impacts of providing such sensitive information to the law enforcement.

A.B. 1584 has restricted the police to obtain a court order, search warrant, or the permission from the minor, his parent, legal guardian or attorney before collecting the DNA sample. They are also required to dispose of any voluntary sample collected from a minor if it doesn’t accuse a minor involved in a criminal activity. This disposition has to be done within two years.

The law enforcement entities are required to give a form to children requesting their DNA sample exterminated and make justifiable efforts to comply immediately with such requests.

Through this law, the lacking in existing law has been closed that minimize the circumstances under which the law enforcement could get the DNA from minors. However, unlike A.B. 1584 this law only applies to the DNA confiscated for inclusion in statewide or federal SNA databases.

The EFF has praised Governor Brown to take a prominent decision in protecting the rights of California youth by signing A.B.1854 into law.

Rebecca James is an IT consultant with forward thinking approach toward developing IT infrastructures of SMEs. She writes to engage with individuals and raise awareness of digital security, privacy, and better IT infrastructure.

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