Britain is becoming 'Big Brother' society: report

by Phil Hazlewood Nov. 2, 2006

LONDON (AFP) - Britain is becoming a "surveillance
society," where CCTV cameras, credit card analysis and
travel movements are used to track people's lives minute
by minute, a report suggested.

The 140-page document, produced by academic group the Surveillance
Studies Network, warns that people's lives will be monitored even
more in the next decade by the government, the public sector,
employers and big business.

Britain is ranked bottom of the democratic Western world and
alongside Russia for its record on protecting individual privacy in a
table published Thursday by Privacy International, a human rights
watchdog.

There are up to 4.2 million CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras
-- about one for every 14 people or nearly 10 percent of those around
the world -- with ever-more sophisticated technology.

Every person is caught on camera about 300 times each day.

Despite opposition from civil liberties groups, the government is
pushing ahead with plans to introduce biometric identity cards,
arguing it will improve internal security and curb illegal
immigration.

This week, Prime Minister
Tony Blair said he wants to increase the police's DNA database to
cover even people released without charge.

As international data protection and privacy commissioners met in
London, Britain's information commissioner Richard Thomas said the
report was a "clear signal" the country was becoming a surveillance
society.

"It's not just cameras in the street and things like that. It's
technology monitoring our movements and activities," he told BBC
radio.

Using mobile phones, credit cards, the Internet and even driving now
left an "electronic footprint," he said, while organisations
increasingly shared information.

Thomas -- whose remit is to promote public access to official
information and protect personal data -- insisted the authors of the
report, which he commissioned, were not scaremongering by painting a
"sinister, Orwellian picture."

Instead, it was the start of a necessary debate about what should be
the limits of technology, he added.

"We've got to say: 'Where do we want the lines to be drawn? How much
do we want to have surveillance changing the nature of society ... ?"
he said, accepting some uses may help in issues like
counter-terrorism or serious crime.

"We've got to stand back and see where technology is taking us and
make sure we are happy."

The report suggests that by 2016 shoppers will be scanned as they
enter stores through tags in their clothes, with information matched
to details on loyalty cards to recognize shopping habits.

Cars linked to satellite navigation systems will allow police to
monitor speeds and journeys more closely, while workers will be
subject to biometric and psychometric tests to weed out unsuitable
candidates or health risks, it adds.

Care was needed to prevent creating a climate of suspicion and
mistrust, it added.

Britain's Department for Constitutional Affairs accepted there was a
balance to be struck between sharing information responsibly and
respecting citizens' rights.

The Association of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales agreed,
saying safeguards existed already against abusing surveillance and
its use had to be proportionate.