Drew Wilson
December 4th, 2008, 05:24 PM
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Britain violated the privacy of two people by storing their DNA profiles, Europe's human rights court ruled on Thursday, a decision that calls into question rules governing the use of the country's DNA database.
British groups campaigning for individual liberties immediately demanded a change in the law, which the government rejected.
The case centered on a boy who was charged with attempted robbery aged 11 and later acquitted, and a man who was charged with harassing his partner before the case was formally discontinued.
Both applied for their fingerprints, DNA samples and profiles to be destroyed, but police kept the information on the basis of a law allowing them to keep it indefinitely.
More... (http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4B347M20081204)
Interesting. If I'm not mistaken, the US has something similar, though I'm not familiar with the differences between the US and UK databases.
British groups campaigning for individual liberties immediately demanded a change in the law, which the government rejected.
The case centered on a boy who was charged with attempted robbery aged 11 and later acquitted, and a man who was charged with harassing his partner before the case was formally discontinued.
Both applied for their fingerprints, DNA samples and profiles to be destroyed, but police kept the information on the basis of a law allowing them to keep it indefinitely.
More... (http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4B347M20081204)
Interesting. If I'm not mistaken, the US has something similar, though I'm not familiar with the differences between the US and UK databases.