An international report on violations of individual privacy ranked Israel at 26 among 47 nations surveyed by the London-based "Privacy International" organization.
 
The group criticized Israel for practices such as retaining DNA samples for up to seven years in police databases, which officials consider part of maintaining national security.

The report, published Sunday by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail ranked Greece, Canada and Romania as leaders in protecting individual privacy. The United States, Britain, France and Holland were ranked lower than Israel in respecting citizens' rights to individual privacy.