The Open Rights Group protest at Parliament Square

The Open Rights Group have compiled a collection of CCTV surveillance cameras and assembled a huge mosaic in a protest held yesterday (11th October) in Parliament Square. The collection of images can be found here.

The UK population is amongst the most watched and spied on people in the world.  Under the rather specious claims of promoting personal security and fighting terrorism, CCTV cameras spring up in many locations. It seems to me we are sleepwalking to a state in which every step we take, in physical or virtual terms, will be followed and tracked by the state.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was passed in 2000 on a wave of hysteria bout paedophiles and terrorists.  It allows "the interception of communications, carrying out of surveillance, and the use of covert human intelligence sources" to help prevent crime, including terrorism.  Except it's abused to allow surveillance for a multitude of purposes.

• CCTV cameras - in the UK we are among the most spied on people in the world
• It is estimated that each UK citizen gets photographed 300 times a day - in London, one is captured on camera roughly every six seconds.
  
• CCTV cameras are reported to be ineffective in solving crime 
• They are used to spy on defecating dogs and kids at school and social security dodgers
  
• Privacy International classed the UK as an "endemic surveillence society"
• If we photograph them, see what happens.
  

This is the tip of the iceberg - HMG will, along with other EU states, be required to monitor email and phone communications (and web browsing habits) of all citizens.  Reports suggest they will retain 12 months' worth, including the content of communications in some vast £12bn database.  Also see this report in The Guardian.  The cynics among us wonder if they will then leave it on a commuter train...of course, on past experience of our government's abilities to push forward large scale IT initiatives, it will be a dismal failure with vast cost over-runs.  And in the present economic climate, perhaps there are better uses for the cash!