Religious dictators of Iran covet DNA identifiers of journalists — report

The Iranian government reportedly has a plan to create a biometric database collected from journalists.

A news publisher that bills itself as an independent source of information about Iran said the program was announced by the Legal Medicine Organization of Iran. The agency is part of the government’s judicial branch.

The London-based publisher, Iran International, is reporting that the government would take DNA samples from journalists, mine workers, forest rangers, armed forces, civilian flight crews and firefighters.

All of them are considered high-risk professions, according to Iran International’s reporting, meaning that workers are more likely to be the victims of accidents and injuries.

Unlike the other occupations on the list, journalism is considered by Iran’s theocracy to be a danger to the government.

The report is not corroborated and does not say if the alleged plan is real or just a thought bubble. That said, Iran’s record on draconian oppression of its own people is extremely well-documented.

Iran International’s article compares the alleged plan to the autocratic government of China’ biometric surveillance of that nation’s Uyghur Muslim and Tibetan populations.

As recently as January, a U.S. vendor was forced to stop selling DNA kits to the Chinese government in Tibet.

On the other side of that policy is the U.S. state of Montana, which last fall passed a law protecting genetic data privacy in comparatively broad terms.

Article Topics

biometric identifiers  |  biometrics  |  data privacy  |  dna  |  Iran