Professor Joh Publishes Essay on Genetic Privacy
Professor Elizabeth Joh has published an essay on the growing need for privacy protections concerning genetic data. Published on the Life of the Law website, Joh's essay notes the concerns expressed in the recently released White House "Report on Big Data and Privacy," which include the possibility that individuals' inadvertently discarded DNA could be collected from coffee cups, soda straws, and other sources and used without their knowledge.
"The threats to privacy are real, and not just from the police," Joh writes. "Easily obtained DNA could be of value to many: marketers, litigants in a paternity dispute, even someone intent on discovering something private from, say, a presidential candidate."
Professor Joh's scholarship focuses on criminal procedure and policing, with a special emphasis on DNA evidence, undercover policing, and new surveillance technologies.