Come on now, innocent is innocent. These DNA profiles should be deleted, nothing less!
And anonymity does not guarantee that the DNA profiles cannot be linked back to the original person. There is some more posting on this somewhere on virtual shadows. Examples of how easy it can be.
What am raving on about here? Read more at guardian government computing.
Wow, I love this news that UK’scoalition government will be keeping their promises to “reverse and restrain many of the surveillance systems that have marked its citizens out as the most watched in the world,” THINQ.co.uk reports. Plans include scrapping the National Identity Register and ID card, as well as biometric passports, and expanding the Freedom of Information Act. Other coalition commitments include removing innocent people’s records from the DNA database, regulating the use of CCTV and halting the prior government’s plan to retain national records of e-mail and communications data.
This will include a proposal to “outlaw” the finger-printing of children at school “without parental permission”. It will be interesting to see how they pan out in the statistics department for Privacy International “Most surveyed countries report” in a couple of years 🙂
Further to a posting I made some time ago on the removal of DNA from one of the law enforcement databases… that is for those of you that are proved innocent. Here is more posting from ARCH Rights on the dubious collection of DNA by Britain’s law enforcement, and a link to resources to help you in getting DNA removed.
There is some good insights at archrights blog into the Marper judgement in the U.K., i.e. the decision to remove DNA of innocents from law enforcement databases. Check it out. Is your DNA stored somewhere, have you tried to have it removed?
Thanks to a post from ARCH blog that give pointers onto how to reclaim your DNA. Are you one of the 800,000 innocent people who have been arrested in England, Wales or Northern Ireland that are thought to have their DNA and computer records retained? Find more information on how to reclaim your DNA at this website.
It’s not just the FBI that are keen to collect DNA of innocent persons. In Australia Mr McDevitt chief executive of CrimTrac, the agency which maintains the database, said the next step was taking samples from people charged but not convicted and from people charged for minor crimes as well as serious offences. Read more…
The largest DNA database not protected by any privacy law, that is the FBI DNA database of over 6.7 million profiles is in the throes of a new spurt of growth. Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.
I wonder what next?