Killer Convicted, Using Dog DNA Database 97
lee1 writes "It turns out that the UK has a DNA database — for dogs. And this database was recently used to apprehend a South London gang member who used his dog to catch a 16-year-old rival and hold him while he stabbed him to death. The dog was also accidentally stabbed, and left blood at the scene. The creation of human DNA databases has led to widespread debates on privacy; but what about the collation of DNA from dogs or other animals?"
Yes, there are privacy implications (Score:5, Insightful)
Any time anyone collects detailed information about a person, his associations, or his possessions, there are privacy implications. That includes dog DNA databases, VIN databases (and tag number databases even more so), processor serial number databases, etc.
We're already so far down this slope, though, that nobody really notices it any more.
Interesting... (Score:2, Insightful)
Privacy nutters, some marketing advice (Score:5, Insightful)
On the whole, if you are trying to pursuade people that privacy is important, don't use examples like: "If you force me to have a license place on my car, then when I kill your child while I drunk drive for the 100th time, I can be caught and that would be a bad thing".
People might not be all that sympatethic.
Oh here is another one "I parked my car in front of a fire-hydrant and the firemen had to run around it, delaying them so you burned to death but they scrathed the paint, they should pay me for emotional trauma".
Learn to pick your cause. A guy who killed a child is NOT a cause for YRO. If you keep doing stuff like this, you only make yourself an easy target for ridicule.
Don't believe me? See how easily the deniers latched on to the "global warming" aspect of "global climate change" and then leap on any cold day as proof it is all a hoax.
Samething can happen to people who care about privacy "Oh look, another privacy nutter, who wants criminals to have free reign."
Show the voter why he should care about a dog DNA base. Frankly I doubt you can.
Re:Dog? I raise you an oak leaf! (Score:3, Insightful)
Clearly this was a violation of the tree's rights and I demand reparation immediately!
This story is so ridiculous it makes me cry. Oh no, a murderer got caught because he left evidence at a crime scene. That sounds... just about right to me. It's one thing when we are building databases of human DNA collected from people who have committed no crimes -- a person cannot choose to not have DNA, so this is a serious ethical and human rights issue. But what I see here is that this guy idiotically left physical evidence at the crime scene and this evidence ended up convicting him. Unless you're willing to claim that dogs have some kind of inherent right not to have their DNA cataloged, I don't see the problem here.