"DNA" Is For "Do Not Attack" My Rights

In a stunning decision, the EU court has ruled unanimously that the orwellian DNA database maintained by Britain is a violation of basic human rights. Critics are calling on the British government to immediately begin deleting the records of innocent people whose genetic fingerprints are being held in violation of their rights.

In their ruling, the judges said keeping the information "could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society".

Under present laws, the DNA profiles of everyone arrested for a recordable offense in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are kept on the database, regardless of whether they are charged or convicted. The details of about 4.5 million people are held and one in five of them does not have a current criminal record.

The court found that the taking of DNA from those not convicted of a crime was in violation of the right to respect for private and family life-- a key element in the European Convention on Human Rights. It also said it was "struck by the blanket and indiscriminate nature of the power of retention in England and Wales".

The judges ruled the retention of the men's DNA "failed to strike a fair balance between the competing public and private interests," and that the UK government "had overstepped any acceptable margin of appreciation in this regard".

The court also ruled "the retention in question constituted a disproportionate interference with the applicants' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society".