November 15, 2018.
On November 6, an amendment to the law reform bill was adopted, proposing to reform the National Automated DNA File (FNAEG). The changes made broaden the fields of forensic investigation in genetic matters and may prove worrying for the respect of private life.
Deletion of the notion of “direct line”: ” Worrisome drifts “
The National Automated DNA Registry (FNAEG) is a national database that lists the DNAs of all people convicted of felonies or misdemeanors. This file lists the data of approximately three million individuals. It can be used by the courts to cross it with a piece of DNA taken at a crime scene to verify if it corresponds to an already known profile.
The amendment made to article 706-56-1- allows parenting searches to be no longer limited to families in “direct line” with the suspect, by removing this notion. “ Having a distant cousin on file for a crime could now mean you are at the heart of an investigation. Today, that may not seem like a big deal. But under a government, say, more invasive, this can give rise to much more worrying drifts “Worries Me Thierry Vallat, lawyer at the Paris bar.
Deletion of the notion of “non-coding” DNA
A second technical point is also worrying. The new amendment removes the notion of “non-coding” DNA markers within article 706-56-1-1, which opens “ surreptitiously leads to manipulation of coding elements during file comparison procedures. This, given the highly sensitive nature of this data, would allow the authorities or other entities if the data were to leak, to know your most secret genetic heritage ”, underlines Me Thierry Vallat.
Faced with these controversies, the LREM deputy Didier Paris wants to be reassuring: these concerns are exaggerated. ” The data collected is already sensitive. Corn these devices are extremely controlled and each file has a specific purpose and therefore a very specific job. “
Anne-Flore Renard
Read also: DNA is not the same in all body tissues, according to researchers