
'Devious Defecator' case is a landmark for US genetic-privacy law - jhull
http://www.nature.com/news/why-the-devious-defecator-case-is-a-landmark-for-us-genetic-privacy-law-1.17857
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dimino
Shouldn't the company (Atlas) have just left it up to the police? That is,
filed a police report and let the cops investigate the poo?

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cjensen
What law was violated?

You can be fired for doing something that does not break a law. Police are
restricted to investigating cases where a law is broken.

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AaronFriel
I'm not a lawyer, but a few come to mind. Vandalism, destruction of property?
Employees don't have free reign to... ahem, defecate where they please at work
just by virtue of being an employee.

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mtrpcic
It would almost certainly constitute Indecent Exposure, and possible Sexual
Assault depending on who witnessed and various pieces of context.

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tzs
If someone had peered upon the person pooping, the proprietor would presumably
not have proceeded to procure the DNA to try to pinpoint the perpetrator. They
could have prevailed upon the peeper to peg the punk.

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tomcam
Please post penuriously.

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s73v3r
As the case shows, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that a company
should be allowed to compel an employee to surrender their genetic material.

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krallja
From the article:

"The law does include limited exemptions, however. Forensic laboratories can
ask workers for their DNA to check that employees' genetic material does not
contaminate the genetic samples that they analyse."

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meatysnapper
Sounds like the mysterious case of the "Twitter Shitter" _.

_ There were a series of serial shower poopings that happened at Twitter
several years ago. The perpetrator(s?) were never caught.

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justonepost
Watch Gattaca in case this is confusing.

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apkostka
One of the plaintiffs is Dennis Reynolds. "The Gang Finds Poop in the Bar"

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kweinber
I thought the article was going to be about the new Ubuntu release.... what a
dissapointment!

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JasonFruit
The judge in the case, Amy Totenberg, is the sister of the journalist Nina
Totenberg, both of whom are daughters of the remarkable violinist Roman
Totenberg. What an illustrious family!

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jessaustin
_The case, nicknamed the 'mystery of the devious defecator' by US district
court judge Amy Totenberg..._

She must be a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys fan.

