I confess: I suspected the Idaho murders
criminal investigation was being botched.
Instead, it was using chilling surveillance tools
American Thinker,
by
Thomas Lifson
Original Article
Posted By: Magnante,
1/6/2023 9:32:42 AM
The charging documents so far revealed in the University of Idaho students’ murder investigation are both comforting and chilling. I suspect that I am far from alone in having gotten impatient (snip) and may have made some unkind assumptions (snip) it is disconcerting that the highly politicized and anti-conservative FBI is able to track our movements with surveillance videos and cell phone pings and match our DNA to a sample in its possession even if we’ve never had a DNA test ourselves (snip) do I have anything to worry about? I think that I do given my conservative political orientation and propensity for free thinking and expression
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Gordon Mills 1/6/2023 9:51:11 AM (No. 1372135)
This irritates the hell out of me. Just because some unknown family member has used 23 and Me, in the future I could be tracked down, arrested, tried, found guilty of some future government crime and locked up for life.
9 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
seamusm 1/6/2023 10:07:11 AM (No. 1372154)
I share the author's worries. I do NOT trust juries. They come to fulfill their duties without any expertise and the 'wisdom' of the 'common man' may have sufficed 200+ years ago but EVERYTHING is vastly more technical now. Jurors not only bring their expected biases into the box but they also bring their ignorance. Prosecutors especially at a federal level for damn sure don't bring a knife to a gun fight and they know how to manipulate jurors most of the time without even breaking a sweat. Ordinary citizens cannot afford the kind of attorney capable of providing an adequate defense.
19 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
FLCracker 1/6/2023 11:58:20 AM (No. 1372238)
FYI, 23andMe doesn't release info without permission. The DNA database sites law enforcement are using are ones that let you know up-front that they do this. You make the decision to share your info from 23andMe with those sites.
Besides the DNA, the genealogical information is extremely helpful. Otherwise, there is a lot of research to be done, which takes time. So you should also get irritated with your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th cousins who do the research and share the information on your common ancestors for the last few hundred years.
Safety/security and freedom; there's always a trade-off between them.
7 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Subsuburban 1/6/2023 12:05:22 PM (No. 1372248)
As a member of the State Office of Pre-Crime Investigation, I heartily approve of the methods utilized to find and arrest the perpetrator.
6 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 1/6/2023 12:13:09 PM (No. 1372258)
Re #3. Do you really believe that? Hah.
4 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jalo1951 1/6/2023 12:16:37 PM (No. 1372267)
And yet people get on social networks (China ring a bell) and knowingly let them gather all their personal info because they just have to watch that idiot on TicToc try and fly off his roof using his mom's bed sheet. When you supply your DNA you are told, up front, that this info can be used and will be used by others. You assume it's a trade off and that it will never pertain to you. And in 99.99% percent of cases it probably will not. When the government DEMANDS that we all supply our DNA I will become more concerned. For now a possible murderer has been taken off the streets. Let the process play out. No, I do not like this intrusion into our lives but I don't know what the answer is. Tech is way ahead and we are always trying to play catch up. Does the end justify the means? You will have to decide for yourself.
5 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Hermoine 1/6/2023 1:15:19 PM (No. 1372314)
I think law enforcement has to get a warrant before they can get the DNA data from a group like 23 & Me. And, in any event, if they really wanted his DNA and suspected him, they could use the old soda can method, which also involves surveillance. Sadly, they are able to track our every move, and yes, the scary part is that all of our agencies, not just the FBI are now highly politicized extensions of the DNC. Good to see they used the tools for good this time...the biggest challenge we face is upending our out of control bureaucracies and then putting safeguards in place for the future.
1 person likes this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Trump'sCousin 1/6/2023 1:57:05 PM (No. 1372342)
I think they got their azzez in high gear she the parents hired private investigators and kept the pressure on high.
Too many in "law enforcement" are PUPS
in it for the wrong reasons...
Paycheck
Uniform
Pension
Security
Not all of them mind you but a good deal of them
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Trump'sCousin 1/6/2023 1:59:00 PM (No. 1372344)
It has been written in several articles that China purchased ALL of the DNA information from Ancestry. I suspect Y23&Me was also acquired.
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
FLCracker 1/6/2023 6:52:27 PM (No. 1372545)
#5, Yes, I do. 23andMe has been burned once on privacy issues, so they are very, very careful.
They started out from the medical side of DNA, doing counseling on things like inherited diseases (such as "you and your spouse both carry this gene, chances are 1 in 4 your next child will also die before age two"), paternity ("what do you mean, I married my brother?), and other family relationships (such as, "you and your spouse come from an inbred area/religion/society, although you are genealogically distant, genetically, you might as well be siblings; having kids might not be a good idea").
They knew how to protect this kind of information, but the growing genealogical aspects caught them off-guard, got sued, had to institute all kinds of new policies and procedures. They do NOT want lose their bread-and-butter part of their business over this new aspect of DNA research. Privacy is part of their brand, but "23andMe" has become the generic name brand for DNA testing. I bet they wish they had left the genealogical stuff to Ancestry.com
And anyway, the Feds have their own database of all the military that have served from the early 1990s to now. They say they will never use it for criminal investigation, but that would be one government entity talking to another one. Worry about that one.
0 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
bighambone 1/6/2023 7:02:11 PM (No. 1372557)
What will be really interesting is why the perpetrator targeted some, but not all of the residents of that obvious “party house”, and chances are did one of those young woman bring him up there previously for some sort of one night stand and then shun him after that?
1 person likes this.
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