Spying and Surveillance

Innocently walking down a street in Glasgow, Cardiff or London will mean a person's face is picked up by one or several of the UK's 4.2 million CCTV cameras , one for every 13 people. It is estimated that, on a normal day, someone's image will be captured more than 300 times.

Then, there are all the speed cameras on the roads, the proposed expansion of the DNA database, and the planned introduction of biometric ID cards.

Richard Thomas, UK Information Commissioner, warned that Britain could "sleepwalk into a surveillance society".

Nick Clegg, LibDem leader angrily challenged Gordon Brown for creating a "surveillance state" and making the UK the "most spied upon on the planet". He referred to 1000 surveillance requests a day, one million "innocent people" on the government's DNA database and the "scandalous" fingerprinting of pupils in some 5000 schools.

The Surveillance Studies Network's 2006 report observed: "Most profoundly, all of today's surveillance processes and practices bespeak a world where we know we're not really trusted".

Bigger Brother

Further to this and that and this the Independent has a quick summary of our surveillance society .

*CCTV
Britain is covered by a network of 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras - more per head than any other country in Europe or North America. Londoners can be caught on camera 300 times a day.

* DNA
Four million samples, including one million from people never convicted of an offence, are on the DNA database, covering almost 7 per cent of the population. Tony Blair has said he sees no reason why every adult should not be included.

* MEDICAL RECORDS
A central National Health Service database will soon hold millions of confidential medical records, enabling staff to access patients' information at the press of a button. People who object will not be able to opt out.

* IDENTITY CARDS

From 2009, anyone who renews a British passport will be forced to register for an identity card.
Fifty-two pieces of information, including fingerprints and iris scans, will be held on the register that will underpin the scheme.

* DATA-SHARING
Ministers are examining proposals to build a so-called "super-database" containing personal data such as benefit and pension records, which could easily be transferred between Whitehall departments.