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Comment by conroe64 | Hacker News Reader

Ben, pat yourself on the back... you potentially thwarted a world renowned, best-of-class spy agency from collecting invasive personal data from your very lifeblood, your children. This may be the difference between your kids being ordinary nerds taking pictures of themselves hiking through a wildlife sanctuary while uploading their location to foursquare and being falsely implicated in a plot to overthrow the government and thrown into Guantanamo Bay.

And thankfully, you didn't stop at merely declining getting your kids' DNA tested, ignoring the peer pressure of all your cool yuppie friends who did so with their kids. Instead, you blogged your decision, and thereby recording your extreme intelligence and wit in a free permanent form for the masses to consume and benefit from.

I salute you, sir. A freedom fighter to which we all should bow to.

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Hah! Thank you.

I pray to the FSM for this PRISM-induced group psychosis to end.

I agree the NSA overstepped their authority. But the idea that A) they would want this information B) they wouldn't have trivially easy ways of otherwise getting this information (ie a single hair) or C) that this information would somehow be safer with a UK based firm are all _hilarious_.

C is reasonable. Maybe if DNA gathering robots become cheap enough, and the NSA starts scouring the world vacuuming up DNA for the database -- then B might be reasonable, but probably not. We are talking about broad programmatic collection, not anything targeted. A is wrong... Clearly they want whatever they can get their hands on (from washington post: http://bit.ly/11PFiH7).

The real argument is that the likelihood of this decision making a difference in the life of his kids is very small. But from an ideological standpoint he might not care. Maybe if that type of attitude became a wider trend, a difference could be made? Who knows. I respect his decision though.

I back to point A. The NSA doesn't want my stinking DNA. There's no actionable intelligence from it, which is the "all" referred to in that silly WP link. It's completely lunacy. The other two are moot points as a result, I just though they were funny.

Jeez, even if they have it, who the hell cares beyond it beyond the the principle of having my privacy invaded.

This thread is idiotic. HN quality has been just obliterated with the tin-foil hat/NWO crowd. The stupid is just breathtaking.

Hi, OP here. Have to say I'm actually pretty tired of all the PRISM stuff too, but this issue got me interested.

If someone were to get into a position of power, the knowledge that said individual was likely to succumb to a neurodegenerative condition would be pretty actionable intelligence. That sort of thing.

Thanks for the reply!

I think you have the makings of a good point. I really don't think the NSA is interested in this data. Now employers, insurance companies, or universities might find it very interesting.

I think you had your heart in the right place, and largely agree with your reasoning. I just blame different principals. And I would be more worried about more mundane stuff, like having it be made parts of routine physicals, than I would be about anything black hat.

EDIT: also, I was not referring to you with the, "This thread is idiotic. HN quality has been just obliterated with the tin-foil hat/NWO crowd. The stupid is just breathtaking." comment. That was directed towards to of the other comments that are not members of what I would consider "reality".

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