Our own Ed Yohnka recently appeared on the online Matthew Filipowicz Show to discuss Chicago's extensive system of surveillance cameras and the renewal of the Patriot Act. Listen in!
Will Guzzardi of the Huffington Post reports on a bill recently passed by the Illinois legislature which would allow DNA samples to be collected from individuals arrested of certain crimes, and compiled into a state registry:
Privacy groups, though, have expressed consternation at the idea of an expanded DNA database that could move the state and nation closer to genetic surveillance.
"A lot of the debate on this subject confuses this notion that DNA is just like a fingerprint," Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the ACLU of Illinois told HuffPost Chicago. "A fingerprint is just to identify someone. DNA contains your entire genetic information, sensitive information about health issues, not only for you but also for close family members."
...
Still, Ed Yohnka of the ACLU had his doubts. When asked if the proposed law was legal, he said, "We think it may not be.
"We think it raises serious questions about the explicit privacy protections that are contained in the Illinois Constitution," he added.
The Illinois Constitution does indeed contain more stringent privacy protections than federal law. The current state constitution was adopted in 1970, and because of its relative modernity, it was careful to carve out personal privacy more explicitly than others.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Catholic Charities of Rockford will end its foster-care and adoption services for fear it might be forced to quit discriminating against LGBT couples:
Benjamin Wolf, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois who represents juvenile state wards as part of a court-monitored consent decree with DCFS, said the decision was troubling, especially in Rockford where there is a high turnover of child welfare workers and racial and economic tensions.
... "I am very sorry that they would give a greater priority to their commitment to continue discriminating than the health and welfare of Illinois children."
Wolf said that when Catholic Charities in Chicago ended its foster care services in 2007 because the agency's insurer dropped its coverage, many caseworkers and foster care homes agreed to transfer to other agencies without disrupting the children's placements. He hopes families in the 11 counties served by Rockford Catholic Charities will be similarly amenable.
