Is privacy as high as we can go?

I celebrate the European Court of Human Rights’ decision, from December 4, that Britain is wrong to store DNA information of innocent suspects—but wonder if privacy is as strong a foundation for human rights as it’s cracked up to be.

The ruling pertains to the 860,000 people without criminal records, whose DNA had been sampled while they were suspects. The two men who brought the suit did so under privacy concerns, claiming that having their information in the database was humiliating and stigmatizing.

While I agree with the ruling, I’ve been more than a little concerned with the long-term legal fate of genetic information. Privacy is just one small angle. There’s also ownership: the patenting of life.

Genetic tracing is one of several scientific and technological innovations that have grown far faster than our culture’s capacity to develop corresponding ethical standards. We have the power of Gods and the moral muscles of toddlers.

I am sure these issues are getting worked over at high levels in academies, religious bodies, and the like, but the threat is serious. I don’t know much about privacy law, but my sense is that even its greatest limits are insufficient to contain the potential for mischief carried by this new power.

Is there another ethics that reaches farther?