A significant part of the British government has spoken out against the recent surge of recording and tracking the general public’s whereabouts and communications.
CCTV cameras, databases recording emails, SMS communication and Internet traffic have all been in the news lately, and covered in some depth on Tech Snake. And it appears that government officials have also taken note on the intrusions into civic liberty.
This Guardian article includes excerpts from a House of Lords report, with Lord Goodlad – a former Tory Whip, Lord Woolf – a former lord chief justice, and 2 former attorney generals. Lord Goodlad is quoted as saying, "…there could be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about an individual being recorded and pored over by the state." The report even goes on to say that the local council’s authority to track members of the public with CCTV systems should also be questioned.
If we were all aware of the privacy problems our country is facing – the vast majority would be disgusted at how our government goes about collecting data – which is all in the name of crime or terrorism prevention. Hopefully this report will raise the issues publicly to a level where everyone is appalled by our government’s vision of a surveillance state, and something tangible can be done to prevent further intrusions and hopefully reverse some of the current ones. To download the full report, visit the House of Lords website.