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Scherr, Albert E. --- "Privacy in public spaces: the problem of out-of-body DNA" [2017] ELECD 1541; in Timan, Tjerk; Newell, C. Bryce; Koops, Bert-Jaap (eds), "Privacy in Public Space" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 211

Book Title: Privacy in Public Space

Editor(s): Timan, Tjerk; Newell, C. Bryce; Koops, Bert-Jaap

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781786435392

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Privacy in public spaces: the problem of out-of-body DNA

Author(s): Scherr, Albert E.

Number of pages: 31

Abstract/Description:

Any conception of privacy in public spaces must account for the practice of surreptitious DNA harvesting. Surreptitious DNA harvesting presents a set of privacy problems different than other privacy-intrusion practices. Shed DNA is out-of-body DNA containing a kaleidoscope of intimate, personal, and powerful information. Viewed through DNA’s connection to the body, out-of-body DNA begs for protection, even when left in a public space. Viewed as merely an abandoned body trace, shed DNA too often provokes a physically-bounded conception of privacy that dissolves any instinct for protection because the DNA is no longer part of the physical self or the physical identity. This chapter proposes a re-conception of bodily privacy in a public space that calls for privacy protection for the genetic self (the genetic identity), irrespective of its physical location.