We have until March to opt out of the care.data initiative. The ‘theoretical risk’ that we might be re-identified fr om our personal data once it is made available to third parties is a compelling reason to opt-out. However, this is not the only reason. Care.data is part of a major... [More]

  More than 1.7 million DNA profiles of innocent adults and children have been deleted from the national database, ministers have revealed. As part of the Government's commitment to slim down the amount of information held by the state, more than 1.6 million fingerprint records from innoc... [More]

The plan, which is backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, involves sequencing the DNA of everyone in England and adding this information as an attachment to each person's medical file – warns campaigner In April, the Caldicott Committee, including British government chief scien... [More]

The Human Genetics Commission (HGC) has published its final report, which marks the end of its 12 years as an advisory body to the Government. Following a review of arm's-length and non-departmental public bodies in October 2010, it was decided the HGC would be reconstituted as a Departmental... [More]

A new law governing the gathering and retention of data including biometric and DNA information has come into force in the UK.   Under the Protection of Freedoms (PoF) Act, which received Royal Assent on 1 May, police will have to destroy DNA and fingerprint data if it is deemed to have... [More]

Scores of convictions for serious crimes may have to be reviewed after a serious blunder by a leading private forensics firm led to a suspected rapist being acquitted, the Guardian has learned. The company, LGC Forensics, has admitted that a sample at one of its laboratories became so contami... [More]

Only the profiles of people suspected of serious offences of sex or violence will be retained and only for a maximum of five years, under plans unveiled in the Protection of Freedoms Bill published yesterday. The move ends a three-year campaign by civil liberty groups after a European Court ... [More]