LONDON - Europe's top human rights court yesterday struck down a British law that allows the government to store DNA and fingerprints from people with no criminal record - a landmark decision that could force Britain to destroy nearly 1 million samples on its database.
Rights groups say the ruling could have even wider implications for the storage of other sensitive and personal data. The case originated when British police refused to destroy DNA samples of two Britons whose cases were closed.
Seventeen judges on the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that keeping DNA samples and fingerprints was in violation of people's right to a private life - a protection under the Human Rights Convention to which Britain is a signatory. The court also criticized Britain's use of "blanket and indiscriminate" storage.
Western nations violate treaties all the time; those are for the OTHER GUY!
Britain cannot appeal the ruling. It has until March to submit plans for destroying samples or to make a case for why some should be kept. Many European countries allow for temporary storage of DNA in sex crimes or other offenses but samples are usually destroyed after the cases are closed.
"It's a fantastic result after a 7-year, hard-fought battle," said Peter Mahy, a lawyer who represented the two Britons. Britain has one of the world's largest DNA databases with more than 4.5 million samples, usually collected with a cheek swab.
In England and Wales, more than 850,000 DNA samples from people with no criminal record are stored on the national database. Samples have come from anyone who has been arrested, regardless whether they were charged, convicted or acquitted. Even the DNA of crime victims has been stored on occasion.
"DNA and fingerprinting is vital to the fight against crime, providing the police with more than 3,500 matches a month, and I am disappointed by the European Court of Human Rights' decision," said Britain's Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. "The existing law will remain in place while we carefully consider the judgment."
WTF is there to "consider?" The COURT RULED IT!
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Britain's current policy is to retain samples until the individual dies or reaches 100 years old.
Translation: they just wanted to keep them forever. If you are dead, how you gonna complain?
Scotland, which has its own legislature, destroys DNA samples taken during criminal investigations that are dropped. DNA samples are also destroyed upon acquittal in Finland, Germany and Sweden.
The US government announced plans this year to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency. It also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not - a departure from current practice that limits DNA collection to convicted felons.
Make sure you Sig Heil when you visit AmeriKa!
If a person is arrested but not convicted, they can ask the Justice Department to destroy the sample. In France, police can take DNA samples from people before they are formally charged and those samples can be kept for 25 years. People acquitted or not charged can ask to be removed from the database but it's "a complex process," said Jeanne Bossi of the CNIL, France's independent privacy watchdog.
Related: France's Freedom of the Press
France ain't so free, is it?A key part of the European court's ruling said people "were entitled to the presumption of innocence."
Isn't it SAD that a WESTERN COURT must even MAKE THAT STATEMENT?
Oh, how FAR the FREE have FALLEN!
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