Companion website for
COMPARATIVE MEDIA LAW & ETHICS
by TIM CROOK
Published by Routledge on 15th December 2009
For details of the book, please visit Routledge.
Author's profile at Goldsmiths, University of London
The impact of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on UK law, politics and society
Comparative Media Law & Ethics offers a discourse on the advantages and disadvantages of the influence of ECHR and the European Convention on UK Media Law. It is important to offer a balanced representation of the overall position. For every Strasbourg ruling that can be argued to be disadvantageous to the media in the balancing exercise between freedom of expression and other rights, it is possible to find a countervailing example.
The engagement of Article 8 ‘privacy’ has led to rulings against the United Kingdom that can be argued to protect civil rights and essential liberties that had been enshrined in previously recognised English Common Law. This is particularly so when issues arise in the context of new social and surveillance technologies such as CCTV and the DNA fingerprint in relation to personal identity.
In May 2008 the grand chamber of the ECHR delivered its full judgment in the case of S and Marper v the United Kingdom which concerned the police retention of DNA records of arrested persons and ‘criminal suspects.’ This landmark judgment held that the UK's "blanket and indiscriminate nature of the powers of retention of the fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles of persons suspected but not convicted of offences" amounted to a violation under Article 8 (right to respect for a private and family life).
Detailed transcript of ruling from BAILII.
