'Devious Defecator' case is a landmark for US genetic-privacy law | Hacker News Reader

'Devious Defecator' case is a landmark for US genetic-privacy law

nature.com

57 pointsjhull19 comments

Shouldn't the company (Atlas) have just left it up to the police? That is, filed a police report and let the cops investigate the poo?

"I'll put my best people on it right away".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9CynvMlFyo

I couldn't resist

Or, you know, security cameras

What law was violated?

You can be fired for doing something that does not break a law. Police are restricted to investigating cases where a law is broken.

I'm not a lawyer, but a few come to mind. Vandalism, destruction of property? Employees don't have free reign to... ahem, defecate where they please at work just by virtue of being an employee.

It would almost certainly constitute Indecent Exposure, and possible Sexual Assault depending on who witnessed and various pieces of context.

If someone had peered upon the person pooping, the proprietor would presumably not have proceeded to procure the DNA to try to pinpoint the perpetrator. They could have prevailed upon the peeper to peg the punk.

Please post penuriously.

A person can't just poo anywhere they please! I really hope there's a law against pooing in non-lavatorial places.

In the UK, Damian Ayles was convicted for defecating on his neighbour's doorstep (as well as posting the faeces through a letterbox and smearing it on a car). He was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £350 in compensation and £85 costs: http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/25/phantom-dumper-caught-pooing-o...

Apparently there was both DNA and CCTV evidence in the case.

As the case shows, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that a company should be allowed to compel an employee to surrender their genetic material.

From the article:

"The law does include limited exemptions, however. Forensic laboratories can ask workers for their DNA to check that employees' genetic material does not contaminate the genetic samples that they analyse."

Sounds like the mysterious case of the "Twitter Shitter".

There were a series of serial shower poopings that happened at Twitter several years ago. The perpetrator(s?) were never caught.

Watch Gattaca in case this is confusing.

One of the plaintiffs is Dennis Reynolds. "The Gang Finds Poop in the Bar"

I thought the article was going to be about the new Ubuntu release.... what a dissapointment!

The judge in the case, Amy Totenberg, is the sister of the journalist Nina Totenberg, both of whom are daughters of the remarkable violinist Roman Totenberg. What an illustrious family!

The case, nicknamed the 'mystery of the devious defecator' by US district court judge Amy Totenberg...

She must be a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys fan.

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