Court rules against DNA, print database
Europe’s top human rights court struck down a British law that allows the government to store DNA and fingerprints from people with no criminal record -- a landmark decision that could force Britain to destroy nearly 1 million samples on its database.
The case originated when British police refused to destroy DNA samples of two Britons whose criminal cases were dropped.
Seventeen judges on the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that keeping DNA and fingerprints violated people’s right to a private life.
Britain has until March to submit plans for destroying samples or to make a case for why some should be kept.
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