It doesn’t matter if you do not have a criminal record or any brush with the law. Lord Justice Stephen Sedley would like everyone in the country and everyone visiting the country to be included in a comprehensive DNA data base:
“LONDON — All British citizens and every visitor to the country should be included on the national DNA database, which is already the world’s largest, a senior British judge said Wednesday.
Lord Justice Stephen Sedley said the current database of nearly four million is insufficient, and that ethnic minorities are disproportionately included.”
Link: U.K. judge says all citizens, visitors should be in DNA database
This would be another step toward the ‘surveillance society.’ How much privacy does a citizen give up in the name of security? As one would expect, there are many who strongly oppose the government collection of such personal information. And, as DNA science progresses, that data will yield more information than presently available. The DNA data is not only who you are but may unlock questions such as disposition to illnesses, longevity, mental health…
Perhaps Lord Justice Sedley needs to be reminded of a comment made by an American Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Louis D. Brandeis said: “The makers of the Constitution conferred the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by all civilized men — the right to be let alone.”
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster
[tags]dna testing, data base, lord justice stephen sedley, privacy, security, justice louis brandeis, surveillance society[/tags]