Warning over 'surveillance state'
Electronic surveillance and collection of personal data are "pervasive"
in British society and threaten to undermine democracy, peers have
warned.
CCTV cameras and the DNA database were two examples of threats to
privacy, the Lords constitution committee said.
It called for compensation for people subject to illegal surveillance.
The government said CCTV and DNA were "essential" to fight crime but
campaign group Liberty said abuses of power mean "even the innocent have
a lot to fear".
'Orwellian'
Civil liberties campaigners have warned about the risks of a
"surveillance society" in which the state acquires ever-greater powers
to track people's movements and retain personal data.
Controversial government plans for a database to store details of
people's phone calls and e-mails were put on hold late last year after
they were branded "Orwellian".
Ministers are consulting on the plan, which would involve the details
but not the content of calls and internet traffic being logged, saying
it is essential to fighting terrorism.
The Department for Communities and Local Government said it had written
to local councils to ask them to ensure surveillance powers were used
"proportionately" and not for tackling minor offences such as dog
fouling.
A spokesman said: "It is right and important that councils have these
powers of surveillance - they are an effective means of tackling real
problems that can blight communities, such as rogue traders, fly tippers
and loan sharks.
"But the public must have confidence in who has these powers and that
they are used in a proportionate and proper way which is why we are
working closely with the home office and local government to develop
training and guidance."
In its report, the Lords constitution committee said growth in
surveillance by both the state and the private sector risked threatening
people's right to privacy, which it said was "an essential pre-requisite
to the exercise of individual freedom".
People were often unaware of the scale of personal information held and
exchanged by public bodies, it said.
"There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep
towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the
state," committee chairman and Tory peer Lord Goodlad said.
'Misuse of powers'
Among areas of most concern were the growth of CCTV cameras, of which
there are now an estimated four million in the UK.
The UK is said by privacy campaigners to have the most cameras per head
of population in the world, but no definitive figures are available.
According to a 2004 European Commission report, Britain has the highest
density of CCTV cameras in Europe. It found 40,000 cameras monitored
public areas in 500 British towns and cities, compared to fewer than 100
cameras in 15 German cities and no open street CCTV at all in Denmark.
In its report, the Lords committee said the use of cameras should be
regulated on a statutory basis in the UK, with a legally binding code of
practice governing their use.
There was evidence of abuse of surveillance powers by some councils,
with cameras wrongly being "used to spy on the public over issues such
as littering".
The UK's DNA database is the "largest in the world", the report
concluded, with more than 7% of the population having their samples
stored, compared with 0.5% in the US.
Police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can take DNA and
fingerprints from anybody arrested on suspicion of a recordable offence
and the samples can be held indefinitely whether people are charged or
not.
Campaigners say anyone not convicted of a crime should have their DNA
removed, a position endorsed by the European Court of Human Rights in a
recent ruling in the case of two British men.
Ministers should comply with this ruling quickly, peers said, and
legislate for a new regulatory framework for the database.
Other recommendations include a requirement for any new data scheme to
be preceded by a public assessment of its impact on privacy and for the
information commissioner to be given powers to carry out inspections on
private companies.
"The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and
other organisations risks undermining the long-standing tradition of
privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy," Lord
Goodlad added.
"If the public are to trust that information about them is not being
improperly used, there should be much more openness about what data is
collected, by whom and how it is used."
'Right balance'
The government said CCTV and DNA were "essential crime fighting tools"
but acknowledged personal data should only be used in criminal
investigations where necessary.
"The key is to strike the right balance between privacy, protection and
sharing of personal data," a Home Office spokesman said.
"This provides law enforcement agencies with the tools to protect the
public... while ensuring there are effective safeguards and a solid
legal framework to protect civil liberties."
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has rejected claims of a surveillance
society and called for "common sense" guidelines on CCTV and DNA.
She recently announced a consultation on possible changes to the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, under which public bodies can
conduct covert surveillance and access data, to clarify who can use such
powers and prevent "frivolous" investigations.
The Conservatives said the government's approach to personal privacy was
"reckless".
"Ministers have sanctioned a massive increase in surveillance over the
last decade, at great cost to the taxpayer, without properly assessing
either its effectiveness or taking adequate steps to protect the privacy
of perfectly innocent people," said shadow justice secretary Dominic
Grieve.
Human rights campaigners Liberty welcomed the report.
Director Shami Chakrabarti said: "Liberty's postbag suggests that the
House of Lords is more in touch with public concerns that our elected
government.
"Over the past seven years we've been told 'nothing to hide, nothing to
fear' but a stream of data bungles and abuses of power suggest that even
the innocent have a lot to fear."
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, urged the
government to "reassert" its control over the use of data.
He said: "Governments tend to think that gathering new information on
citizens is a good thing. But that's not true if our privacy is
undermined and our data isn't secure.
"We need to see privacy by design: you can't bolt on privacy at the end
of big government IT projects, we need privacy safeguards built into
systems right at the start."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2009/02/06 17:13:44 GMT
Saturday, 7 February 2009
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