The Latest in IT Security

As the scope of the NSAs bulk surveillance program becomes all too clear, less attention has been paid to the issues surrounding genetic information and surveillance. BioGenFutures, a new company-cum-art-project launched by information artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, hopes to bring DNA surveillance back to the fore. The company just announced a product it calls Invisible, which endeavors to make it harder for authorities to trace left-behind DNA evidence back to people. Not only is the product actually launching to consumers, but Dewey-Hagsborg believes solutions of its kind will be commonplace within five years. I was just really disturbed but also preoccupied by this emerging possibility of genetic surveillance, she told The Verge. It just struck me that we were having a national dialogue about electronic surveillance, but this form of biological surveillance isn’t being discussed. Invisible expands on that work by imagining a future wherein discrimination based on genetics is an everyday fear.