at a work meeting on friday, we discussed the growing use of databases (in my job we maintain a voluntary database, but there will soon be a mandatory nationwide children’s database), and got off onto a side conversation about i.d. cards. i have a lot of conversations like this, and in this particular round-table it was one american to 5 brits. out of the brits, 4 of the 5 voiced having no concerns about i.d. cards, claiming they had “nothing to hide” and they would help crack down on terrorism. (for any new readers, my oft-opined views on privacy rights can be found here and here and here and least tactfully but most colourfully here.) hell, i was shocked even *one* brit agreed with me – usually in these scenarios i play the role of “lone paranoid american with the tin-foil hat”. the huge sacrifice of privacy in just living here is something i will never get accustomed to, but i *have* become accustomed to the prevailing attitude of most people around me.

so imagine my surprise reading this:

Experts have called for a halt in the spread of CCTV cameras.

Britain is now being watched by a staggering 4.2million – one for every 14 people and a fifth of the cameras in the entire world.

The Royal Academy of Engineering also warned that lives could be put at risk by the lurch towards a ‘big brother’ society in which the Government and even supermarkets hold huge amounts of personal information on us.

It said any system was vulnerable to abuse – including bribery of staff and computer hackers gaining access.

-snip-

Professor Gilbert added: “We have supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also offering life insurance services.

“What will they be able to do in 20 years’ time, knowing how many doughnuts we have bought?”

and how apropos that this began playing on my itunes:

elvis presley – suspicious minds

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cctv, uk, privacy rights