UK's Brown: Britain needs technology to defeat terrorism
By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - Britain must set aside worries that DNA technology, security cameras or identity cards are diminishing civil liberties and harness modern technology to tackle terrorism, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday.

Defending his record on protecting personal freedoms, Brown said any failure to use 21st century methods to tackle terrorism or organized crime would amount to a failure of national security.

Brown is introducing unpopular plans for the first national identity cards since World War II, while liberties campaigners have questioned Britain's need for a vast DNA database and millions of closed circuit security cameras.The country has around one security camera for every 14 people

Human rights groups and some leading lawmakers also oppose proposals to allow police to hold terror suspects up to 42 days without filing charges against them. Last week, Brown won a vote in the House of Commons on including the measures in planned new terrorism laws, but the bill faces strong opposition in the House of Lords.

Critics who argue the government is intruding too much into public life, or that freedoms have been lost in the name of security, are complacent in the face of modern threats, Brown said.

Brown insists that a 21st century response to crime and terrorism is compatible with civil liberties, saying Britain can "both protect and promote our security and our liberty, two equally proud traditions."

His speech comes after opposition Conservative lawmaker David Davis resigned Thursday in protest at the planned new terror laws.

Davis will stand for re-election on a promise to defend Britain's civil liberties, saying Brown's proposed laws are an affront against the Magna Carta - the 1215 charter that enshrined citizens' protection from unfair detention and laid the legal foundations for many Western democracies.