Privacy is a fundamental human right. But with the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world, the proposed introduction of ID cards, increased surveillance via telephone and the Internet, mobile phone tracking, and increasing monitoring by employers, the British public may well become the most spied-upon people in the world. This book investigates the growing concerns over intrusions into our privacy and our rights to protection.
The information comes from a wide variety of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Privacy Debate
Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?, Privacy opinions, Privacy and human rights, Watching them, watching us, ID cards may be Blair’s ‘plastic poll tax’, YouGov poll, The hi-tech ID card built into a passport, Playing the ID card, Biometric cards will not stop identity fraud, RFID, Spy chips, Privacy and surveillance, Internet and e-mail privacy, Eyes on the child.
Chapter Two: Your Privacy Rights
When knowledge is power, New ‘snooper’s charter’ faces legal challenge, The ‘snoopers’ charter’ explained, CCTV and human rights, Beware secret cameras in the loo, Someone to watch over the office police, Workplace privacy, Monitoring and internet policies, Spam email, Spam offences, Privacy and data protection, Communications data protection and retention, Beware when you buy, Shopping from home – security and privacy, Data Protection Act, Towards a privacy law?
Key Facts
Additional Resources
Index
• The UK still has the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world. Since 1994 the Home Office has spent 78% of its crime prevention budget on CCTV, and there are now over 1.5 million cameras across the country. (p. 3)
• Most Britons say they would welcome or at least not mind identity cards. (p. 7)
• Large numbers of people suspect that today's credit card fraud would be matched by a new wave of identity card fraud. (p. 7)
• The Government plans eventually to set up a National Identity Register to hold details of all 60 million people in the UK. Information stored on ID cards could then be checked against the register to authenticate the holder's identity. (p. 9)
• Radio Frequency Identification is an automatic data capture technology that uses tiny tracking chips affixed to products. (p. 13)
• Surveillance is the monitoring of activities of an individual, group or groups of people. New opportunities for mass surveillance are opening up daily with high-speed, networked computers facilitating many of our everyday activities. Surveillance today may be carried out via the Internet, via telephone networks or via the data profiling of individuals. (p. 17)
• Mobile phone tracking has become one of the hottest new mobile applications. Several services now allow users to track the location of mobile phones, with many making concerned parents their key market. (p. 19)
• New regulations will give more than 24 state bodies and hundreds of local government officials the power to demand personal communications details, though not the content, of messages and calls. (p. 22)
• Disciplinary proceedings for e-mail and internet abuse at work in the previous 12 months exceeded those for dishonesty, violence and health and safety breaches. (p. 28)
• Sending pornographic emails was one of the three most common causes for sacking staff - nearly 40pc of disciplinary cases resulted in dismissal. (p. 28)
• The Data Protection Act gives any individual the right to request to see what information has been stored on them by any data processor, and staff are not exempted from this. Your employer should present you with this information on request. (p. 30)
Protecting our Privacy Study Guide
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.50
ISBN: 978 1 86168 295 6
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