posted 09-05-2002 01:17 AM               

Britain 'leads way' in eroding privacy

By David Rowan

INDIVIDUAL privacy is being eroded in Britain to a far greater extent than in other developed countries, according to an international study of state surveillance in the year since September 11.

Many states have rushed through restrictive anti-terrorism and security laws in response to last year’s terrorist attacks, but the Blair Government is singled out for an anti-privacy “pathology” that the report claims is leading to mass surveillance of the population.

In the 400-page report, to be published tomorrow, Privacy International, a London-based campaign group, and the US Electronic Privacy Information Center, give warning of a significant loss of personal freedom.

The Privacy and Human Rights survey notes that in many of the 53 countries studied, communications surveillance has grown, intrusive “personal profiling” of individuals has increased, and data protection laws have been watered down.

“In the rush to strengthen national security and to reduce the risk of future terrorist acts, governments around the world turned to legal authority and new technology to extend control over individuals,” the report states. “Many of these proposals have had far-reaching consequences for the protection of privacy.”

The report highlights the British Government’s use of the terrorist threat to introduce new requirements for personal communications data to be stored and to launch a new debate about a national identity card.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, also sought in June to extend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to allow private e-mail and telephone records to be shared among more than 1,000 government agencies.

After facing strong protests, Mr Blunkett withdrew the proposal a few weeks later and announced that he had “blundered”. Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said the report highlighted “a systematic attack on the right to privacy by all levels of the British Government”.

He added: “The UK demonstrates a pathology of antagonism toward privacy. The rate of growth of video surveillance, communications surveillance and information collection has exceeded the growth rate in such countries as Singapore and Israel.”

The erosion of privacy in Britain was not a new trend. “Crime and public order laws passed in recent years have placed substantial limitations on numerous rights, including freedom of assembly, privacy, freedom of movement, the right of silence, and freedom of speech,” the report states.

It cites a number of illegal spying and surveillance activities by government agencies, often in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and estimates that 1.5 million CCTV cameras are now monitoring public spaces.