The UK is becoming a state of mass surveillance

In his annual report, Sir Paul Kennedy, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, revealed this week that British authorities launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day. Simon Davies, director of the watchdog organization Privacy International, is very worried about these figures. "A thousand requests a day is a huge number. But 1,000 requests a day is the tip of the surveillance iceberg. No one knows how many conversations - or indeed how many phone lines - are caught up in this surveillance regime. ... Nearly every country listens in to phone calls, and most regard this intrusion as a matter that should be treated with great sensitivity and caution. But Britain nurtures a surveillance approval process that is opaque, under-resourced, compliant and reactive. The rhetoric of 'public interest at any cost' must change if Britain is to avoid descending any further into a state of mass surveillance."

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » United Kingdom

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, January 30, 2008