British the Most Spied-On People in Western World

**Lemur** · 10-29-2006, 18:51

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- what's with you wacky Brits? How did you lose all of your "ancient liberties"? Wha'happen?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

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 “waking up in a surveillance society”.

Thomas said: “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.

“They don’t know, for instance, that a record is kept of every internet site they visit. They don’t 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.”

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 customers’ 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 people’s journeys and the long-term retention of logs detailing the websites people visit at home.

“It’s not just unwarranted intrusions into privacy, it’s also the dangers of inaccurate information, of mistakes being made, of information being held for too long,” 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. “The little girl was overheard saying, ‘My dad bonked me last night’. A dinner lady heard this and reported it to the school authorities,” 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.

**CrossLOPER** · 10-29-2006, 18:58

I think everyone should be a suspected sex offender.

**Philippus Flavius Homovallumus** · 10-29-2006, 21:20

We've told you before. We're subjects, not citizens.

If HM Government wants they can evict everyone in the Esat End and build Tony a Castle.

We have no rights and no constitution.

**Orb** · 10-29-2006, 21:27

This isn't good at all.

My user title is definitely changing.

**lancelot** · 10-29-2006, 21:40

I do despair over the state of the country sometimes...the 'Great' has definitely been taken out of Great Britain...

Even the most basic of homes are fast becoming ludicrously expensive...the average age of a first time buyer is now in the 30s IIRC!!!???!!! Buying (and even renting a place in some cases) on your own is now not far short of impossible.

NHS is a joke in many areas. You have to make an appointment at least a week in advance to see a GP.

Especially near/in London it costs a fortune to move around. Worse still, every year fares go up without no discernable improvement in facilities. London motorists are quite unfairly made to contribute to this fund in addition to a annual road tax...

Immigration control is a soft touch (the words of an immigration dept employee, no less)

We have a 'Labour' government that has so far tried to ban protests within 100 yards of Parliament, banned protest outside of a conference under the guise of 'public safety', students fees are skyrocketing at each review of education costs (despite the government who enacted this change had the benefit of free education if needed) and pretty much instituted a charge/fare/tax to attempt to solve every problem it faces.

In short...

**BDC** · 10-29-2006, 23:25

On the plus side there is just so much spying going on you'll probably be lost in the insane mass of information. Can't see the wood for the trees etc.

Hopefully we'll get a competant government sooner or later too! You can but hope.

**rory_20_uk** · 10-30-2006, 00:10

The density of our population does assist with data gathering. Although as has been said, so what, there's data. Who's doing what with it?

We are Great Britain as opposed to Brittany.

Immigration may mean it's easy to get in, but the rules are draconian against those that are merely working and not in the EU. Nurses are now not having contracts renewed, and will be deported unless they've been here 5 years (a new law increased it from 4, and was then postdated... nice).

**Blodrast** · 10-29-2006, 21:18

Originally Posted by Lemur

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Wha'happen?

Somebody set them up the bomb!

**CrossLOPER** · 10-30-2006, 01:19

Originally Posted by Blodrast

Somebody set them up the bomb!

All your base are belong to us.

**Incongruous** · 10-30-2006, 01:57

It's times like these that we remeber the Gloriuos Revolution, so gloriuos in-fact that most of the population has been conned into a conpletley perverse system of government. It's times like these that the word Republic and
C(r)ommonwealth spring to mind.

hehe, my little nod to history.

**King Ragnar** · 10-30-2006, 18:04

I blame muslims ( the ones that want to blow us up of course the ones that hold up sign saying kill the pope are fine)

**professorspatula** · 10-30-2006, 19:31

Britain may 4.2 million CCTV cameras, but from what I've seen whilst watching Crimewatch UK, only about 4 of them are capable of capturing anything more than an indistinctive fuzzy moving blob. The average criminal's face seems to consist of nothing more than about 6 pixels.

**Vladimir** · 10-30-2006, 20:10

Originally Posted by King Ragnar

I blame muslims ( the ones that want to blow us up of course the ones that hold up sign saying kill the pope are fine)

Weren't so many of those cameras in London installed to catch people driving who hadn't properly paid their taxes? The "Muslim problem" has only recently come to light and can't possibly account for such a large domestic surveillance system.

How come no one talks about MI5?