BBC NEWS | Technology | Smart screens sample DNA
The TFT will have an intelligent chip inside programmed to do a set job, be it reading people's fingerprints or telling a person's blood type in the future."
The chip technology behind the display will be able not only to store but also to analyse information.
It means in the future, police equipped with mobile devices could take DNA fingerprinting samples from people when they are on the beat.
This could make it is a lot easier for samples to be recorded and stored, and raises the possibly of using wireless technology to compare database information with samples.
Technology takes us ever forward. It can protect us and it can put our freedom at risk. Which this will be remains to be seen. The danger with any of this type technology or thinking is that we assume its fool proof; we place trust in machines which while powerful cannot truely be described as smart.
In DNA fingerprinting there is the possibility of errors, there is the posibiity of getting it wrong. Not only that but couldn't this type of technology be used to track my movements, my associations, the things I have handled. Will this type of data, transferred into information be responsibly stored and ethically maintained? What are the safeguards?
Posted by Paul Goodison at October 17, 2003 10:03 PM | TrackBack