Question

I've recently read a couple articles dealing with long term datastorage, and DNA was suggested as one of the prime candidates forlong term storage of digital data additionally, there is thisarticle which deals with decoding of long storage data. Thesepopular articles, though simple do mention important concepts- howpackets are stored in DNA use addressing schemes, redundancy ofstorage, writing for a recipient who may be using a differentlanguage, etc.

This made me think - we have the SETI initiative which islooking for signs of (intelligent) life in the universe. Thatorganization was created long time ago, and uses technologies ofthose days - radio waves. The modern science knows that we canstore a lot of data in DNA, and that most organism DNA containsonly a small fraction of protein coding sequences and a largeamount of non-coding material. If I understand correctly, some ofthe non coding material is repetitive and highly preserved. Hasanyone considered expanding the search for intelligent life toinclude examination of DNA for messages that might've been left byother intelligent species actually visiting earth?