Human rights court rules UK DNA grab illegal

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that it is illegal for the government to retain DNA profiles and fingerprints belonging to two men never convicted of any crime.The landmark decision could mean the more than 570,000 DNA profiles in the National DNA Database belonging to innocent individuals will have to be deleted. Police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland currently have powers to take DNA and fingerprints from everyone they arrest.The case was heard by the 17 judges of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They unanimously found that UK DNA and fingerprint retention policies infringe individuals' rights to privacy.

To read the full story, visit http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/04/dna_fingerprints_echr/
(source: The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/)

More information and news on related topics are archived in our Technology/Biometrics section at http://www.truefacts.co.uk/technology/biometrics.html