Dusk till Dawn

Before long, your DNA data will be held on a database, and you will have given it willingly. But the database will belong to a private company, and you will be paid good money for it. But that's the near future.

For now, it looks as if the police have done everyone a favour by bringing up the issue of compulsory DNA collection before it could be silently introduced without debate. By shining a light on the issue before the necessary spin could be readied, the Home Office have been forced to deny interest in the idea.

The fact that being arrested (not convicted) is sufficient to have your DNA recorded, and that it is near impossible to remove the record is a legal blemish being tackled by a number of human rights lawyers. Interestingly, serving police officers must give a DNA sample, but this is removed from records as soon as they retire. The upshot has been the human rights argument that either everyone's DNA should be recorded - or no ones should be.

But it maybe dangerous to play this bluff, because circumstances can quickly change. We have already seen how one terrorist incident has led to the removal of hundreds of liberties and long held values throughout the world. Had the wheels spun quicker, we would all have been walking around with biometric identity cards by now.

If it was simply about solving crimes, then most people would agree that a DNA database addresses the symptoms not the cause. Clearly a nationwide dusk till dawn curfew will abruptly reduce crime. In fact I can think of all manner of liberty denying ideas that I hope will never be implemented in peace time. The current administration, however, have few qualms about borrowing the tactics from police states if there are votes in it, or quotas are satisfied. More to the point, they are upfront with the moral challenge - if you are innocent, you have nothing to hide.

While identity may be an issue with a lot of bloggers, it isn't to the public at large. Which is where privately held databases holding your DNA come in. They will effectively become brokers to interested parties. Researchers, insurance agents, and a lot of other people would like to peruse a large sample of geolocated human DNA. How would it work? You sign up, you get swabbed, and you get paid. Your DNA is public - but whose DNA belongs to who is not released; it is public, yet anonymous. If the police arrest you, but can't find the DNA they are looking for in the database(s) you registered with, you are in the clear. People with no hereditary diseases will join exclusive databases for insurance perks - the same way safe drivers do today.

Naturally criminals will not sign up - so the position will be the exact opposite of how it is now. Again, liberty will be successfully brokered by the private sector. Because whatever people feel about trust, convenience and money are always the number one concerns.