Monday, January 15, 2007

Winter blues...

SUPER-COMPUTER

Tony Blair is expected to announce today that sensitive personal data could be swapped by Whitehall departments. Ministers believe restrictions on data-sharing between civil servants are too strict. A 'super-database' or 'super-computer' holding everyone's records would be similar to a planned children's database.

DNA DATABASE

The Prime Minister has suggested that the DNA of every British adult should be stored by the state. The national database already holds 3.7 million samples, 6 per cent of the population, far higher than any other country. More than one million have been taken from people never convicted of an offence.

CCTV

The British are among the world's most observed people. Some 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras record our every move - one for every 14 people and more per head than any other country in Europe or North America. The average Londoner can be caught on camera 300 times a day.

MEDICAL RECORDS

Millions of medical records are to be transferred to a central NHS database, allowing staff anywhere to access patients' information. People who object will not be able to opt out. The most personal information will be available to hospital managers, IT departments, high street pharmacists and civil servants.

IDENTITY CARDS

The first identity cards will be issued next year to foreign nationals and from 2009 to UK citizens. Anyone who renews a passport will be forced to register and the Government aims to make ID cards compulsory within six years. Fifty-two pieces of information, including fingerprints and iris scans, will be held.

SPY IN THE SKY

Motorists are already monitored through the soaring number of road cameras. In an effort to cut congestion, the Department of Transport is examining plans to use satellite technology to keep tabs on every vehicle's exact movements. Motorists, forced to have a black box fitted in their cars, would be billed for every journey they make.

...life on the British farm.

5 Comments:

Blogger The Fool said...

"The average Londoner can be caught on camera 300 times a day."

That astounds me! And I thought the U.S. to be invasive. Everyone should wear the same mask for a day...

Okay, I must ask. Pangloss is easy. Voltaire is still kicked around in the colleges. But "Etzel"? Does it connect with a resistance movement?

January 15, 2007  
Blogger Godwhacker said...

We are just a few years behind England on the march towards the surveillance state. I cringe at the infringement on liberty, but it sounds like a lot of boring repetition if they want to watch me go on with my day.

January 16, 2007  
Blogger Etzel Pangloss said...

It's been a long time since I resisted Fool. I chose Etzel from the Middle high German epic 'Nibelungenlied', it's another name for Attila.

Godwhacker, at every level the state wants us tagged and safe. It is when one acts beyond the daily round that they will 'watch' us.

January 16, 2007  
Blogger Godwhacker said...

The question begs "safe from whom?"

January 20, 2007  
Blogger Etzel Pangloss said...

Safe to work Godwhacker!

January 23, 2007  

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