Reasons not to vote Labour #91 - expansion of the DNA database
Posted by Christie Malry on April 24, 2010 at 10:00 am
In 2000/01 there were 1.2 million people on the national DNA database. In 2007/08 there were 4.1 million people on the database - more than doubled in seven years.
Many of them are innocent people who had never been charged with a crime.
The government only agreed to take innocent people off the database when forced to by European law. They simply can't be trusted with your privacy.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Christie Malry. Christie Malry said: New blog post: Reasons not to vote Labour #91 - expansion of the DNA database http://bit.ly/9THg4e #ge2010 [...]
"The government only agreed to take innocent people off the database when forced to by European law."
Sorry, missed that announcement. Although you might want to look at page 5:5 of their manifesto:
"and retain for six years the DNA profiles of those arrested but not convicted."
Oh, indeed... I didn't mean they promised to take them off immediately. That would be too liberal by half!
They might at least have the good grace to take up my idea of paying innocent people to be on the database for those six years.
[...] Giving up your DNA into the state database is not trivial, not least because the state is so reluctant to dispose of it when it no longer needs it. Who knows what the state may decide to do with it later. It's no [...]