Well, and Germany - thanks to his dark past - has more national ID cards
(already envisioned to become biometric) and is allegedly "world class" in
wiretapping. If comparing the degree of surveillance I would be careful to
focus on particular technologies and even if - I remind of Gary Marx´s
artcicle in the first issue of "Surveillance & Society".
Or was this meant as political statement to make Britons aware rather than
other nations relieved? Though I also found the UK information commissioner
rather tame (would be interesting to know more about his institutional
embeddedness and future career opportunities) compared to the more
experienced German colleagues. However, the latter are also under constant
fire by the hardliners of "Innere Sicherheit" and data protection is
increasingly represented as offender protection. Thus, I suspect that we
"sleep-walk" together.
More than five years ago critical German lawyers concluded that legislation
in the field of policing following the landmark Census Verdict of the
Federal Constitutional Court and its declaration of the right to
informational self-determination has lead to an "overregulated absence of
regulation", and data protection offices are staffed with a handful of
people who are just a drop in the ocean of collected data and its abuses.
Eric
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Research and teaching on surveillance
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] Im Auftrag von James Ferryman
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 2. November 2006 12:53
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: BBC News Online: Britain is 'surveillance society'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm
Text:
Britain is 'surveillance society'
There could be up to 4.2 million UK CCTV cameras, the report says 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.
The Surveillance Studies Network report said there are up to 4.2m CCTV
cameras - about one for every 14 people.
Other techniques are used to record work rate, buying habits and movements.
Surveillance will increase in the next decade, the report added.
'Looser laws'
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."
People grumble about data protection, but boy is it important in this new
age
Richard Thomas
Information Commissioner
The research says surveillance ranges from the US national security agency
monitoring all telecommunications traffic passing through Britain to key
stroke information used to gauge work rates and global positioning satellite
information tracking company vehicles.
The report also highlights "dataveillance" - the combination of credit card,
mobile phone and loyalty card information for marketing purposes.
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."
'Balance needed'
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.
Have Your Say
If it prevents criminal behaviour or improves its detection I'm all for
it.
Mark Jones, Plymouth
Send us your comments
The office is an independent body established to promote access to official
data and to protect personal details.
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."
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