British the most spied-upon people in western world

[Eugen Leitl]

(They wish).

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2761-2426874,00.html

British the most spied-on people in western world
Lois Rogers
BRITISH people are now more spied upon by their political leaders than any
other population in the free world, according to an official report.

The linkage of databases and surveillance systems mean people are now having
their movements tracked, habits profiled and photograph taken hundreds of
times a day. The findings, in a report compiled on behalf of Richard Thomas,
the information commissioner, raised concerns that Britain is b
waking up in
a surveillance societyb
.

*
Thomas said: b
Many of these schemes are public sector driven, and the
individual has no choice over whether or not to take part. People are being
scrutinised and having their lives tracked, and are not even aware of it.

b
They donbt know, for instance, that a record is kept of every internet
site they visit. They donbt realise that when identity cards come in, there
will be a record of their movements and every time they have engaged with any
public service.b


He also revealed that his office is investigating allegations of lax security
at the Post Office, HSBC, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The banks
may face unlimited fines over claims that they dumped sensitive details of
customersb accounts on the streets.

The report, compiled by surveillance experts and academics, points out that a
typical Briton will be caught on camera up to 300 times a day. Britain now has
4.2m public CCTV cameras, or one for every 14 people, more than any other
country.

Other examples of surveillance highlighted by the report include the growing
use of automatic number plate recognition to track peoplebs journeys and the
long-term retention of logs detailing the websites people visit at home.

b
Itbs not just unwarranted intrusions into privacy, itbs also the
dangers of inaccurate information, of mistakes being made, of information
being held for too long,b
 Thomas said. He cited an example of a schoolgirl
whose playground banter resulted in her father being refused work because he
had been classed as a suspected paedophile. b
The little girl was overheard
saying, bMy dad bonked me last nightb. A dinner lady heard this and
reported it to the school authorities,b
 Thomas said. Social services
discovered that the girl was referring to her father tapping her playfully on
the head with an inflatable hammer. The file was closed, but five years later
the father discovered he was still a suspected sex offender.

--
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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