Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Shouting Telescreens? Fingerprinting to get into a pub? Where is Britain headed? Fears that the UK would "sleep-walk into a surveillance society" have become a reality, the government's information commissioner has said. Richard Thomas, who said he raised concerns two years ago, spoke after research found people's actions were increasingly being monitored. Researchers highlight "dataveillance", the use of credit card, mobile phone and loyalty card information, and CCTV. Monitoring of work rates, travel and telecommunications is also rising. There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people. But surveillance ranges from US security agencies monitoring telecommunications traffic passing through Britain, to key stroke information used to gauge work rates and GPS information tracking company vehicles, the Report on the Surveillance Society says. It predicts that by 2016 shoppers could be scanned as they enter stores, schools could bring in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat, and jobs may be refused to applicants who are seen as a health risk. Produced by a group of academics called the Surveillance Studies Network, the report will be presented to the 28th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners' Conference in London on Thursday, hosted by the Information Commissioner's Office. The office is an independent body established to promote access to official data and to protect personal details. The report's co-writer Dr David Murakami-Wood told BBC News that, compared to other industrialised Western states, the UK was "the most surveilled country". "We have more CCTV cameras and we have looser laws on privacy and data protection," he said. "We really do have a society which is premised both on state secrecy and the state not giving up its supposed right to keep information under control while, at the same time, wanting to know as much as it can about us." The report coincides with the publication by the human rights group Privacy International of figures that suggest Britain is the worst Western democracy at protecting individual privacy. The two worst countries in the 36-nation survey are Malaysia and China, and Britain is one of the bottom five with "endemic surveillance". People grumble about data protection, but boy is it important in this new age Richard Thomas Information Commissioner Mr Thomas called for a debate about the risks if information gathered is wrong or falls into the wrong hands. "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 in a democratic nation?" he told the BBC. "We're not luddites, we're not technophobes, but we are saying not least don't forget the fundamental importance of data protection, which I'm responsible for. "Sometimes it gets dismissed as something which is rather bureaucratic, it stops you sorting out your granny's electricity bills. People grumble about data protection, but boy is it important in this new age. "When data protection puts those fundamental safeguards in place, we must make sure that some of these lines are not crossed." The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) said there needed to be a balance between sharing information responsibly and respecting the citizen's rights. A spokesman said: "Massive social and technological advances have occurred in the last few decades and will continue in the years to come. "We must rise to the challenges and seize the opportunities it provides for individual citizens and society as a whole." Graham Gerrard from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said there were safeguards against the abuse of surveillance by officers. "The police use of surveillance is probably the most regulated of any group in society," he told the BBC. "Richard Thomas was particularly concerned about unseen, uncontrolled or excessive surveillance. Well, any of the police surveillance that is unseen is in fact controlled and has to be proportionate otherwise it would never get authorised." Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 As if this isn't bad enough... protesting within half a mile of parliament without authorisation is now punishable by imprisonment: Falconer defends new protest law Lord Falconer says it is "ridiculously overdone" to claim free speech is being undermined after the arrest of a woman for listing the UK's Iraq war dead. Maya Evans, 25, recited the 97 names by the Cenotaph memorial to Britain's war dead in Whitehall, near Downing Street. She was found guilty of breaking a new law stopping unauthorised protests within half a mile of Parliament. The lord chancellor said the law was a "sensible" precaution to stop disorder rather than an attack on free speech. 'Peaceful protest' Ms Evans, a vegan cook from Hastings, was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs after being found guilty of breaching the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Critics claim the move was over the top for what was seen as a peaceful protest. The idea that we take a measure, which is a public order measure, designed to protect our Parliament building as depriving us of freedom of speech is ridiculously overdone. They also accuse the government of clamping down on freedom of speech. Asked about the case on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Falconer said: "Freedom of speech is alive and well in this country. We are a country which could not be freer in its press, in what we say. "The idea that we take a measure, which is a public order measure, designed to protect our Parliament building, as depriving us of freedom of speech is ridiculously overdone. "There isn't a country in the world that doesn't take particular measures to protect its Parliament." The new law was initially intended to remove Brian Haw, an anti-war protester who has camped in Parliament Square for four years. But Mr Haw successfully fought off the latest attempt to evict him in the High Court, by arguing his protest pre-dated the legislation. Link New Law Watch the law in action on youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 i'm more concerned with ASBO yobs terrorising neighbourhoods, islamic extremists wanting to blow up innocent civilians and global warming (TB wants to curb global warming but is encouraging uk areoplane travel to boon 3 fold in ten years!!) than CCTV and credit tracking, if you're behaving yourself you have nothing to hide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 i'm more concerned with ASBO yobs terrorising neighbourhoods, islamic extremists wanting to blow up innocent civilians... Precisely... this is what is meant by "sleepwalking into" a surveillance society. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 rather like sleepwalking into a civic breakdown with romanian/bulgarian gangsters/thugs getting a free passage here early next year when they join eu....theres a leaked gov paper concerned with a huge violent crimewave heading our way soon......sleepwalking means i think things getting swept under the carpet and the subject muted until its too late?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 As long as it makes you feel more comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 What do you think about the protest law? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 a bit draconian but otherwise i'm not overly concerned just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 What would it take to concern you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 You're pretty good with the questions Fidel. What's you're answer to hooligans, vandals, shoplifters a mad bombers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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