Nature article argues for open U.S. DNA database

chrb writes: New Scientist has an article questioning the uniqueness of DNA profiles. 41 scientists and lawyers have published a high-profile Nature article arguing that the FBI should release its complete CODIS database. The request follows research on the already released Arizona state DNA database (a subset of CODIS) which showed a surprisingly large number of matches between the profiles of different individuals, including one between a white man and a black man. The group states that the assumption that a DNA profile represents a unique individual, with only a miniscule probability of a secondary match, has never been independently verified on a large sample of DNA profiles. The new requests follow the FBI's rejection of similar previous requests.