Regina v B

[Owen Blacker]

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My ramblings are likely to be moving off-topic, for which I apologize,
but, whilst I agree with Yaman's statement that "possession of a
specific key should not be considered as evidence of guilt", I would
refute (rebut?  :o)  that "the issue may well be different with DNA
evidence"...

Many opinions state that DNA evidence should not be considered
conclusive. Basically, the problem is that DNA forensics tend not to
prove that something is the case, merely that the opposite is unlikely
to be.

Think of paternity analysis. A DNA test cannot prove that A *is* the
father of B, merely (a) that it is *possible* that A is the father
and, maybe, (b) that C is defintely *not* the father.

DNA evidence is often taken as *conclusively* proving this, that or
the other, whereas in fact all it does is suggest that one outcome is
statistically more likely than another.

(Despite my somewhat more computer-technical occupation,) Knowledge
acquired before and during my degree studies (BSc(Hons) Molecular
Biology and Genetics, if anyone's interested  :o)  would lead me to
believe that DNA evidence is nowhere near as reliable as Joe Public
would probably believe.

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yaman Akdeniz" <lawya@lucs-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk>
To: <ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2000 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: Regina v B


> On 16 Jun 2000, at 7:14, Donald Ramsbottom wrote:
> 
> > I have posted this one up as there are some analogies between keys
and
> > DNA. Keys could be described as your cyber DNA. So there is an
argument
> > here about reusing keys etc. Just a thought. Also gives some
insight into
> > destruction etc as it is seen under PACE.
> 
> I do not believe so. You can change your keys but you can't change 
> your DNA. Furthermore, possession of a specific key should not be 
> considered as evidence of guilt. While the issue may well be 
> different with DNA evidence.

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