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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: Europe slows march towards police state |
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Court: take innocent off DNA register
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
The Guardian, Friday December 5 2008
The rapid expansion of the DNA database in Britain was halted yesterday by a damning ruling by European human rights judges that the retention of the profiles and fingerprints of more than 850,000 innocent people was unlawful.
The unanimous ruling by the European court of human rights scuppers Home Office plans to extend automatic retention of DNA samples to those arrested for low-level offences such as traffic violations and littering and for the Europe-wide sharing of records. The national DNA database contains profiles of 4.3 million people who have been arrested by the police in connection with "recordable" offences that carry a potential prison sentence.
Data protection experts also warned last night that it had wider implications for other criminal justice data-sharing schemes in Britain and across Europe.
The 17 judges ruled that the "blanket and indiscriminate" lifetime retention of DNA samples from unconvicted crime suspects, including children, constituted "a disproportionate interference with the applicants' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society".
The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has until March to tell the Strasbourg court how she intends to comply with the ruling. Urgent talks were being organised last night with the police over how that might work. Chris Sims, the chief constable of Staffordshire and lead spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said that the judgment could have a profound impact on the way the police use DNA technology to tackle crime.
One likely solution is to adopt the system in Scotland where the DNA samples and fingerprints of people arrested only in connection with serious sexual and violent crimes can be retained on the database - and only for five years. |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| surely this is a slow march away from a police state? |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| ^I hope you are right, but I'll have to see a little more movement before we can say for sure. I mean, they are still going ahead with that European Constitution to have all similar laws, aren't they? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| I mean, they are still going ahead with that European Constitution to have all similar laws, aren't they? |
If the EU countries are to be joined in a union it seems to me it would make sense to have uniformity and predictability in the legal system rather than a mish-mash of laws. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| I mean, they are still going ahead with that European Constitution to have all similar laws, aren't they? |
If the EU countries are to be joined in a union it seems to me it would make sense to have uniformity and predictability in the legal system rather than a mish-mash of laws. |
50 states and 50 criminal codes.
I don't agree with your assumptions at all, Caniff. The EU should aspire to be a free trade union of independent states with a shared military. I.e., the United States before FDR got his hands on it. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| caniff wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| I mean, they are still going ahead with that European Constitution to have all similar laws, aren't they? |
If the EU countries are to be joined in a union it seems to me it would make sense to have uniformity and predictability in the legal system rather than a mish-mash of laws. |
50 states and 50 criminal codes.
I don't agree with your assumptions at all, Caniff. The EU should aspire to be a free trade union of independent states with a shared military. I.e., the United States before FDR got his hands on it. |
I was more or less thinking about laws related to trade and commerce (although we both know how far-reaching the Commerce Clause can be interpreted in the US). |
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rusty1983
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:06 am Post subject: |
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| ED209 wrote: |
| surely this is a slow march away from a police state? |
It says 'slows march' not 'slow march'! Hahahahahahahahahahaha |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| caniff wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| I mean, they are still going ahead with that European Constitution to have all similar laws, aren't they? |
If the EU countries are to be joined in a union it seems to me it would make sense to have uniformity and predictability in the legal system rather than a mish-mash of laws. |
50 states and 50 criminal codes.
I don't agree with your assumptions at all, Caniff. The EU should aspire to be a free trade union of independent states with a shared military. I.e., the United States before FDR got his hands on it. |
I was more or less thinking about laws related to trade and commerce (although we both know how far-reaching the Commerce Clause can be interpreted in the US). |
If you're thinking of uniform trade laws then we're in agreement.
And yes, Commerce under American Constitutional law means just about anything these days. Here's to Europe resisting the emergence of a strong central bureaucracy. |
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RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| A couple of brothers who used to be my roommates got arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest either during or after a Blink 182 concert in Birmingham, Alabama a few years ago. The police station took blood samples and told them there was a syphillis epidemic and their blood was going to be checked to make sure they didn't have syphillis. One of them is quite the conspiracy theorist (though he was probably right about this one) and said he thinks they take the blood for no other reason than to have the DNA on file. |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:37 am Post subject: |
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| rusty1983 wrote: |
| ED209 wrote: |
| surely this is a slow march away from a police state? |
It says 'slows march' not 'slow march'! Hahahahahahahahahahaha |
All that internet porn must be rotting my brain. |
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