- Thu 24 April 2003
- policy
- Gaige B. Paulsen
OK, call me a bit paranoid and overly dramatic, but the idea of suggesting that "all shall be enrolled" this close to Easter is just a bit amusing for my tastes. Good thing it wasn't Christmas.
An article in Wired about comments made by British scientist Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys from the University of Leicester details a call to register everybody so that suspects in crimes may be found more easily.
He believes that the reason DNA isn't more effective is because the information isn't available to provide a wide enough sample.
"The real problem in a typical crime is that even if you get DNA from a crime scene, you can't pick up a suspect because they don't have a record, so one possibility is to extend the database to include the entire population"
He admits this is one suggestion and that he is concerned about the running of this database by the Police and therefore suggests that the privacy concerns could be allayed by putting the database in the hands of a separate organization charged with assuring privacy.
Somehow, I just don't think that will work. Call it a difference between academic and real-world views, or call it paranoia.