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Issue Description
With approximately one CCTV camera for every 14 people, the Government’s proposed identity card scheme and the introduction of biometric passports, some believe the UK is now one of the most watched societies in Europe. Are these measures necessary in a time when the threat of international terrorism is ever present, or are they an unacceptable infringement of our civil liberties? This book examines the debate surrounding our right to privacy.
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Key Facts
- Privacy is recognised around the world in diverse regions and cultures. It is protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in many other international and regional human rights treaties. Nearly every country in the world includes a right of privacy in its constitution. (page 1)
- Article 12 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: ‘No one should be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks on his honour or reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interferences or attacks.’ (page 3)
- Britain has more closed circuit TV cameras (CCTV) than any other country, monitoring streets, stations, shopping centres, offices etc. 74% of people surveyed felt this was broadly a good thing, as CCTV cameras help to deter criminal behaviour and catch offenders. (page 5)
- With an estimated 3.9 million samples, the national DNA database is five times larger than any other national database and contains samples taken from many who have never been convicted of any offence. (page 7)
- 43% of people surveyed held the view that DNA data should be held only for convicted criminals, and data on everyone else’s DNA destroyed. 51% held the view that in order to catch more criminals, the police should be able to build up their DNA database, so that eventually they hold DNA data on every citizen. (page 11)
- Nearly a million innocent people could have their records removed from the national DNA database after a court ruled holding them breached their human rights. (page 12)
- Every day, you will give out your personal information in some way or other. It could be when you are shopping and you claim loyalty points, or in your workplace, or when you carry out a transaction with your bank. (page 31)
- Forty-two per cent of web users aged 16-24 know someone who has been embarrassed by information uploaded on to the Internet without their consent. And 78 per cent of the entire adult online population would change information they publish about themselves online if they thought the material would later be reproduced in the mainstream media. (page 34)
- Eight out of ten of us now take greater care in the way we look after our personal information, according to new research published by the privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). (page 37)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: A Surveillance Society?
Overview of privacy, A Surveillance Society?, Overlooked, How Big Brother watches your every move, Surveillance in the EU, Checks on surveillance, Freedom of information and data protection, The national DNA database, Britons win landmark DNA decision, Biometric travel documents, A step too far?, Benefits of the National Identity Scheme, Public opinion on ID cards, ID card myths, The problems with ID cards, Councils ordered to stop snooping on residents, How councils are using surveillance, Council leaders respond to ‘snooping’ allegations, CCTV, CCTV and crime prevention, Predicting crime with CCTV, CCTV and sound recording, CCTV in schools, Satellite surveillance, Privacy and the media, Mosley’s victory has a hollow ring for the rest of us.
Chapter Two: Personal Privacy Issues
Personal information toolkit, Our surveillance society goes online, Social networking and privacy, Facebook and the death of privacy, UK consumers wake up to privacy, Monitoring at work, Identity theft.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: Privacy and Surveillance - Volume 168
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: £1.95
ISBN: 978 1 86168 494 3