Britain 'needs surveillance debate'
CCTV is one way in which Britain is turning into a surveillance society
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Thursday, 02, Nov 2006 08:49
The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has called for a national debate on the pervasive nature of surveillance in British society.
Mr Thomas, who today addressed a conference in London today on the subject of living in a "surveillance society", believes that a line has already been crossed with regards to the large volumes of surveillance in the UK.
At the centre of his concern is the rise in widespread use of methods of monitoring behaviour, whether through the tracking of movements, recording of personal activities through CCTV or the monitoring of an individual's use of public services.
While acknowledging the benefits of surveillance for fighting crime and providing private and public services, Mr Thomas is concerned that Britons have "sleepwalked" into a surveillance society, which now surrounds them.
"As ever-more information is collected, shared and used, it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions which directly influence people's lives," Mr Thomas explained.
"Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences - false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality and breaches of security. I am keen to start a debate about where the lines should be drawn. What is acceptable and what is not?" he asked.
A report on the issue of surveillance in Britain, published today by the Surveillance Studies Network (SSN), argues that "the surveillance society has come about without us realising".
"With technologies that are large-scale, taken for granted and often invisible, surveillance is increasingly everywhere," David Murakami Wood of the SSN said.
"We describe techniques such as automatic classification and risk-based profiling as 'social sorting' which can create real problems for individuals - social exclusion, discrimination and a negative impact on their life chances."