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UK has 1% of world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras
Last updated at 11:37am on 27.03.07Experts have called for a halt in the spread of CCTV cameras.
Britain is now being watched by a staggering 4.2million - one for every 14 people and a fifth of the cameras in the entire world.
The Royal Academy of Engineering also warned that lives could be put at risk by the lurch towards a 'big brother' society in which the Government and even supermarkets hold huge amounts of personal information on us.
It said any system was vulnerable to abuse - including bribery of staff and computer hackers gaining access.
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The Government's planned Children's Database, for example, which will contain the names and addresses of children considered vulnerable or 'at risk', could open the door for paedophiles to target them.
The academy said our identities, eating habits, health and vulnerability could all be compromised and abused.
This could include details being sold or leaked of whether a woman has had an abortion or a person's HIV status.
Supermarkets, which keep records of a shopper's purchases each week using
The use of face recognition technology would allow the authorities to pinpoint a person's exact localoyalty cards, could pass information about unhealthy eaters to the NHS or life insurance companies.
One of the report's authors, Professor Nigel Gilbert, said the number of CCTV cameras in Britain is so large that the installation of any more should be halted until the need for them is proven. The average Londoner may be monitored by up to 300 every day.
Britain relies on the cameras far more than other countries, accounting for 20 per cent of all such technology used across the world, despite having just one per cent of the globe's population.
Professor Gilbert said that, as digital technology improved, there would be no barrier to storing camera images indefinitely.
The use of face-recognition technology would allow the authorities to pinpoint a person's exact location at any given time.
The report added that the Government's plans for storing vast amounts of data on computer databases and microchips posed a huge risk to the public.
The NHS computer system to store patient records, which is currently costing billions to develop, could also jeopardise a person's lifestyle or employment prospects if information leaked out.
The report says examples could include DNA data showing that the presumed father of a child could not be.
The academy also said biometric data stored on radio frequency microchips on the Government's new passports - the technology which will be used for ID cards - could be 'eavesdropped'.
The microchips, which the Daily Mail has revealed can be read from a distance of several feet, could be hijacked by fraudsters - giving them access to names, addresses and other personal details - and even terrorists.
The report said that, in the future, extremists could construct a bomb which would be detonated only when a certain passport, or a passport of a particular nationality, was nearby.
The bomb would wait to be activated by information on the passport's electronic chip, which gives out a radio signal.
On supermarkets, the experts say there is no reason why firms such as Tesco or Sainsbury's need a person's name to issue them with a loyalty card.
The report says: "It is not entirely absurd to imagine that supermarkets' loyalty card data might one day be used by the Government to identify people who ignored advice to eat healthily or who drank too much, so that they could be given a lower priority for NHS treatment".
Professor Gilbert added: "We have supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also offering life insurance services.
"What will they be able to do in 20 years' time, knowing how many doughnuts we have bought?"
The document follows a recent study from the Government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, which warned that Britain was becoming a 'surveillance society'.
Commissioner Richard Thomas said excessive use of CCTV and other information-gathering was creating a climate of suspicion.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "This report sends a clear warning to public and private sectors with their insatiable appetite for our personal information.
"The desire for a little bit of privacy is part of being human and the nation's dignity should not be for sale. Smart politicians and businessmen take note."
Reader views (13)
While I do not totally agree with the sometimes use (and totally disagree with the misuse) of CCTV, the facts that you quote are at best inaccurate and are totally misleading, as the research, that we have 4.2m CCTV cameras installed, was flawed and more of a ‘guesstimate’. Current estimation of CCTV cameras in Public Space Surveillance use is 1.2 million, and that figure is agreed by most professionals who work in the CCTV profession.
- Cctv Operator Trainer, London, UK
Let us not forget the Oyster Card. People are forced into having one by the ridiculous and artificially high pricing structure of single ticket products. The digitised database nature of the system then allows largely unknown authorities to track exactly when and where people are going. Couple this with a supermarket 'loyalty' card detailing what an individual consumes, along with the CCTV overload and 'they' are able to compile an exact picture of any person they choose to pinpoint. Talk of a 'Big Brother' society being just around the corner is naive. It is already here.
- Cal, London
I think it's quite unsettling in some ways. In Britain CCTV cameras are watching your every move and then making up new laws to criminalise people for simple things. I think there are grey areas that don't really constitute as crime that before CCTV was introduced went un-noted. I really think the authorities should look into these types of issues and asked themselves is that really fair, because I think there are more serious things going on in the world that have more concern.
- Craig, Manchester England
I don't know what's more depressing; the fact we're the most spied on nation in the world or how complacent many contributors here are.
I loathe cctv. I'm not doing anything wrong, yet I'm filmed from the minute I leave my house. This is meant to be a free country and yet we're more spied on than China.
Combined with the ID card and it's database containing information about your entire life, the blanket use of cctv, and now the use of cctv cameras that bark orders at you, it is more depressing still.
Mark my words we will be in for some interesting times if the current ill-thought out authoritarian mania for spying on UK citizens is not reveresed.
- W. Smith, Bristol
I find it very hard to be bothered about being seen in a public place, whether by camera or eyeball. At present the images are just recorded and wiped a few days later, unless a serious crime takes place and the camera footage becomes evidence.
Should the technology develop to the point where the camera system can reliably recognise particular faces, that would give greater cause for concern.
- Nigel, London
But how many people does it take to use the camera... I mean how many cameras can one man/woman watch maybe 10? Does that mean the UK needs 420,000 people to man the cameras?
Seems they have more cameras than they can afford to use.
- Yirmin Snipe, Boston USA
But how strange is it that when a CCTV tape is required as evidence in a police shooting on London Underground that all the cameras are not working?
- Tony, London
Perhaps this could be used for entertainment purposes? ITV could have a new reality TV show which is just CCTV footage of people walking up and a High Street - it would have to be more interesting than dross like Dancing on Ice, Celebrity Love Island, etc.
- Trevor Roll, London
If you have nothing to hide who cares whether there is CCTV camera on your high street, if you do have something to hide then maybe there should be a camera outside your front door?
- Francis S, Surrey, UK
I think for once this is something to be proud of. Hopefully a few more can be installed and make our streets safer.
- Steven W, London, London
I recently re-read George Orwell's 1984 to see how prophetic it was in foretelling the demise and erosion of personal liberty, and was amazed yet not suprised to see how true much of it was. The installation of CCTV on every street corner is just the thin end of the wedge, and we are rapidly descending into a society that will be living in paranoid fear of each other. This is not a good thing. Google earth demonstrates quite how intrusive satellite technology can be and this will be the next tool in "fighting crime" which will effectively have us all monitored every hour of every day. Why doen't the government just have all us all electronically tagged and have done with it?
- Dk, London, UK
There are many times when I feel that the only CCTV camera this nation requires should be installed in 10 Downing Street!
- Steve R, London, UK
Next time you are mugged, you'll be thankful for CCTV cameras. In fact, they are so helpful I have asked my local council to install one in my lounge. Then, when a robber breaks into my home to assault me as I watch TV, I will laugh and point to the camera. The look on the robber's face will be priceless.
- Adam T. Spencer, London
