Comment by 14 - Hacker Neue

14 Sep 24, 2025 parent

I once thought that public bathrooms could be an easy place to mass collect DNA. The sensors that tell the toilet the person has moved away flush the toilet could be altered to do that but also use facial recognition which would be compared to the nations drivers license/photo ID databases attempting to match who is using the toilet. We are so used to them now that no one would be the wiser that they were also doing bio-metric scanning. Then when the toilet flushes a sample would be collected to be used in DNA testing. In places like airports you could also capture international visitors and since they all need ID to enter it could be made easy to learn their identity.

dyauspitr Sep 24, 2025

The toilet collecting a sample part does not sound easy at all to implement.

not_a_bot_4sho Sep 24, 2025

Not to mention load testing

14 OP Sep 24, 2025

I do not think it would be easy but with advances in testing and the budget of a 3 letter agency I have no doubt it could be figured out. The way I saw it happening in my mind was somewhere after the flush down the pipe a sample would be extracted.

This is more in the realm of conspiracy theory but I have wondered about it once upon a time thinking of book ideas. But the reality is that this idea is way to complicated. Instead many people willingly have their DNA tested and information is put into a database which I am sure every 3 letter agency already has full access to. Also do a crime and you and your future and past family DNA privacy is gone after a court ordered sample exposes you and all your family. We also have situations like cord blood being tested after birth without permission. So in the end no complicated system is really needed. I think DNA privacy is doomed in the end. Which in some situations is good (horrible crimes) but in others will be really bad (denied insurance based on genetics).

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