Most spied upon people in the world?

Question

Now that the Information Commissioner,Richard Griffiths has announced that we(the British) are the most spied upon nation in the world what are all the apologists for the government going to tell us as an excuse?. Perhaps crime prevention,or security. Just remember that Mr. Griffiths has included China,Russia etc. in his survey. I am sure many readers have been thinking when I have said recently that George Orwell's '1984' is here that I exaggerated. Mr Griffiths points out that one of the major weaknesses is that because of all the information being acquired it is easy for serious mistakes to be made in identification,security etc. So just think for a moment before you send some silly/humorous answer because this is a very serious situation.

Answer 1

Well, it isn't just cameras that have placed Britain as number one in the league of snooping in the world.

Every time you use a credit card, there is a computer record of it.

Evert time you pass a vehicle licence number recognition camera, there is a record of it.

The police illegally hold DNA samples of school-children.

The various data-bases are designed to track our every movement, our every internet site, our proclivities, our criminal records (if any), any salacious gossip the police may care to place "on file" as "soft evidence", so colled "intelligience" which can be anything, financial records held by banks, tex authorities and now an attempt to link the NHS to a national database.

It is indeed a very serious issue, because the people who operate these data-bases and surveillance systems, are really not controlled or properly managed by anyone, and because even the Home Office is theoretically controlled by politicians, the permanent civil servants are the ones who decide what can and cannot be collected and stored.

It is the biggest single threat to freedom and democracy that there is, and we are walking blindfold towards a situation far, far worse than anything dreamt up by the "Stazi" in Eastern Germany.

The trouble is, the politicians in all their stupidity may have made it possible, but can they stop it? Indeed, would they want to stop it, given that political power is based on the paranoia of being thrown out at the next election, and they MUST be seen to be doing something, no matter how ineffective or pointless that action may be.

Britian is not just becoming a police-state, it already IS a police-state,andthe only thing standing between "us" and "them" is the power of the EU and human rights legislation.

As for the right to privacy and freedom of information exchange, that went out of the window years ago, and is set to get very much worse, and with it will come either social revolution or totalitarianism.

The choice is ours, or theirs, as the case may be.

Answer 2

I take it that you are referring to the fact that the average brit is supposed to be caught on cameras over 300 times a day? If so i see what you are saying but take a look at the cameras you are actually being caught on -
CCTV in town centres - A good idea, if someone is attacked, a shop is robbed, police are more likely to catch the culprit and get a successful prosecution.
CCTV in shops/banks - Protects the retailers and helps identify thieves
I actually feel safe in the knowledge that there are cameras there for my own personal security. I am a normal hardworking person and have nothing to hide from anyone, therefore nothing to fear about anyone knowing my movements.
Other countries are the same. I came back from the USA on Tuesday. On arrival there I had to have my photo taken and my index finger prints taken, that does not happen in Britain. If you go to a hotel abroad you have to give them your passport so foreign governments know where you were staying, that is a recent thing in Britain.
A person can be tracked anywhere in the world just by using a credit card, it's the same everywhere not just Britain.
This seems like anti identity card politicians trying to scare the public as we get closer to the introduction of cards which i think are a brill idea. It is one step closer to rooting out all the illegal immigrants, organised crime gangs and black market workers and also help to stop the problem of identity theft which is becoming a huge problem.

Answer 3

Ever been audited? They've been here for a long time. I was without work and earning no income for almost a full year a long time ago. I couldn't afford to drive and bought a bike with money I saved. When tax season came around, I filed my earnings. $0. I was audited and they went into my bank transaction history for the year and filed charges based on my bicycle. If I was out of work and had no earnings, how could I afford a bicycle without stealing money from the government? Almost every purchase we make these days is by bank or credit card. They know exactly where you are and what time. If you buy a CD during working hours of the week, somebody's taking note to that. I used to be in the military. I never told them I had a part time job on the side. One day, they called me up at work to ask why I wasn't on base. You're exactly right. It's creepy how he knew what was coming. World War Two was won by knowing where people were, with who and why. America became very good at the game of knowing everything about everyone very quickly and Mr. Orwells knew what was going to happen because of it.

Answer 4

The British system?
Metaphorically speaking it's a spinal cord of a sleeping person (yes, the would be horizontal, flat out) ... One end is the peerage and other end is the 'aqcuired' peerage. (not that the first didn't aqcuire their peerage but that's a different story) Neither really trusts what the other end is doing and whatever is done is to meet their own ends. It's the British public that sits in the middle and holds the country together. It don't look like they gonna break it apart for a while. They probably never will because it will end up squashed on the floor with two majestic towers on either side.
I never actually read 1984. I really ought to.

Answer 5

You must remember that for all the CCTV cameras to have manned personnel would be of ridiculously high cost. The only reason someone would look at the footage is if a crime had been committed and then they would have to pull that footage out of the archives. you may have cameras on you but there is no-one watching you so if you are doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about.
All the government care about is money and keeping the people relatively happy (money being the primary concern).

Answer 6

It's a shame all the spying doesn't achieve anything. Terror attacks, petty crimes and the like are still on the increase regardless of the amount of information around.

Answer 7

yes they are going to instill fear in the minds of everyone
to justify domestic spying. it is a global plot of the illuminati.
seriously this is george orwell stuff
spooky isn't it

Answer 8

Blame the dimwits who elected this bunch of crooks that call themselves 'The New McLabour Party',

Answer 9

Yes, most spied upon. Hoo, hoo!

Answer 10

Spouses, male and female