Overlooked - Liberty

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<strong>Overlooked</strong>: Surveillance and personal privacy in modern Britain 65 If we are moving into a society where mass information retention and sharing is an increasingly integral part of public sector operation, then there are corresponding obligations placed on the state to ensure that they work effectively and efficiently. There is no avoiding the cost and resource impact of ensuring that the ICO and other agencies are able effectively to ‘police’ privacy. These costs should be factored into any cost-benefit analysis at an early, if necessary pre-legislative, stage. There are societal benefits that can arise from proportionate mass informational information sharing for legitimate purposes. However without a supportive framework ensuring appropriate exercise and application of information sharing powers, the bad might outweigh the good.
66 <strong>Overlooked</strong>: Surveillance and personal privacy in modern Britain 6. The National DNA Database In an answer to a parliamentary question from the Conservative MP Mark Pritchard on 20 June 2007, the Home office Minster Joan Ryan confirmed that as of 10 June 2007 there were an estimated 3,976,090 people who had samples retained on the National DNA database (the ‘Database’ or the ‘NDNAD’) 139 . This equates to 5.2 per cent of the population. The UK’s NDNAD holds five times the percentage of the population as the next largest (Austria) and is ten times the proportion of the USA’s database. In recent years the NDNAD has increasingly become an issue of privacy interest. The use of DNA as a tool in criminal investigation dates from the late 80s. The database itself came into existence in 1995. At first only samples from those convicted of certain offences were retained on the database. Since then legislative changes have greatly increased the scope of entry onto the register. As a consequence, anyone now arrested for a recordable offence 140 can have their DNA taken and permanently retained. This has resulted in ever-increasing numbers of people who have never been convicted, cautioned or even charged with an offence being entered on the register. Five per cent of the UK’s population are now in the register. This is five times the proportion of any other country. The growth of the database has made conflict with privacy principles inevitable. The NDAD undoubtedly raises profound legal and ethical concerns. Of particular concern is the permanent retention of the DNA of everyone who is arrested and the severe over-representation of young black males in the samples currently contained in the Database. Consequential to this are the potential uses that DNA information might be used for. Such issues have, however, received surprisingly little political attention. The Database was established without any Parliamentary debate and the political discourse has since been dominated by Government claims about the utility of the NDNAD in tackling crime. Debate over ID cards and CCTV has remained consistently high on the public agenda. It has also been relatively balanced in that proponents and critics will usually be debating the same points. A 139 Parliamentary Question 114068 20 June 2007. 140 Recordable offences are generally those which can result in a custodial sentence.
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Overlooked - Liberty

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