Is Britain becoming a 'Big Brother' state?

I have been increasingly concerned about they way our nation is going. The other week I drove from Salisbury to Hatfield to pick my daughter up from University. The awful thought dawned on me that apart from the drive from my house to the nearest main road, a full five hundred yards, every single mile of my subsequent journey was monitored on a camera somewhere. I don't believe that I was specifically watched, but the fact that I know that "they" could watch me if they so wished is very troubling. Last week a US friend of mine from myLot went and stood in front of a Camera, that is linked to a public webcam service, in her local shopping centre so that i could see her. That was a novelty but there is a sinister undertone in that if I could see her, so could anyone else. I find the ever increasing powers to snoop in my house and rubbish by local council officials worrying. According to my newspaper today I run the risk of a £5,000 fine if I deny officials a look in my dustbins. My new wheelie bin is "chipped" so that they can trace me if I fill it with the wrong sort of rubbish. The police can stop and search me even if they have no suspicion that I have done wrong. Shortly, if the Government has its way all my personal details will be encoded on a plastic identity card that I shall have to produce on demand. I am often told that if I have nothing to hide, why should I worry about ID cards. My simple answer is that I don't have one and I don't worry. Why give me angst then? Apparently it will reduce terrorism? How will restricting my liberty, and using me to compile a huge database of citizens do that? I am saddened and disappointed that we are slowly, inexorably sliding towards a Big Brother state. We will soon see neighbour snooping on neighbour. The last political regime in Europe that did that ended up starting a world war. God preserve us.

I think Britain has a bit of a head start, but don't worry because the US and the rest of the Western world is fast catching up.

We are working on not only cameras and those nifty "eye in the sky" drones, but now Biometrics is increasingly favored.

Our entire lives are being monitored, recorded, and catalogued by everyone from advertisers to government types.

They know the brands we use, the food we like and what we do for entertainment.

They know what books we read and whether or not we smoke.

It's all part of the New World Order and the fine folks at the UN.

So don't feel like you British are being singled out, because you are not.

Everyone else is catching up fast.

It does worry me, Mr Owlwings. If I thought all of this would be used properly and to reduce crime I may feel differently. The police still don't seem to be able to find criminals even if they are caught on CCTV and the government are very good at losing information. I thought a national ID card would be useful until I saw the information that was going to be on it. There is no longer any privacy in this country unless you're doing something illegal it seems. 1984 is just a it later than we thought.

I am in the US and all that stuff is familiar to me as well. I am more worried about them trying to implant some kind of chip in me or my loved ones. I don't want them to be able to track me the closely. I can't get away from myself! Creepy, huh?

I am in USA and all you are talking about are similar here.
I am afraid that we are no longer secure.
We are "sold' and "trade" between advertisers, salesman and the public.
Traffic or speed cameras, security and public cameras.
Soon they will introduce ID with chip and than we are going to be chip and the world is not going to be the same....

I don't think there is any need to have so much information. I find it really difficult to do some things because I have neither a passport nor a full driving licence but with the amount of information stored from different sources, this really ought not to be the case. We are asked for so much information on the basis of security but I don't think it could be that secure if we hand over so much information about ourselves. We don't know exactly where some of the information is going or where it is being held, we are just expected to trust whomever may be holding it. I think that the recent episodes of "lost" data by government agencies proves beyond a doubt that we should not trust certain organisations but we are given no choice. After saying that, it is necessary to do something to combat crime and hold enough information to try to prevent identity fraud but I would have thought that the links between so many pieces of information would just make identity fraud easier to commit.
As for the cameras and things. I think they are fine provided they are used for their intended purpose. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with them if they have no intention of doing anything wrong but maybe there should be something in place to ensure the information is not used inappropriately.

I don't mind having cameras around where I live as they don't work most of the time. I've grown up in a generation of people being recorded via cameras, so I think it's something I don't really notice any more, well, except for the speed cameras, I notice them, check my speed and slow down if need be.

I think that people with nothing to hide shouldn't be too bothered by being watched or being able to be pinpointed at any moment. However I know that sometimes innocent people are made to pay a hefty price due to fraud. My partners van registration was 'seen' by a camera at a crime scene somewher miles away from Coventry (where he works), if it wasn't for the fact that he was working that day and out on his rounds he could have been treated like a criminal.

I think age cards are a good idea as it's difficult to tell how old people are, my youngest sister doesn't like buying alcohol because she ALWAYS has to show her birth certificate or passport to be able to buy it, she looks quite a bit younger than 18, and she's 26!

I also worry though about what happens if my information gets misplaced or left on a train or a bus or in a taxi. I know the government officals can't be trusted with paperwork, just look at the amount of times 'top secret' documents have been left lying around.

Plus, I sometimes worry that government are spying on everyone, maybe I'm just paranoid but why else would they need all of that information?

Its just like George Orwell prophesised... Its happening in the rest of Europe too, although there's a LOT of protesting going on sbout it...

Hi owlwings! I've been watching the changes being brought about by the 'politics of fear' for the last few years. The situation truly appalls me, the very freedoms that our grandfathers fought for are being slowly eroded by each succsesive govt. Would you trust a goverment that is unable to follow its own procedures on Data Protection? If the build a Meta-database, Why not just put a bloody great big sign on it that says "HACK ME". I'm all for protecting society but having CCTV which is linked to facial recognition systems is not the answer(there have already been 2 trials).With the new legislation and detention powers being drafted in, the question still remains 'who watches the watchers'. I'm not a luddite complaining we should be harking back to a calmer age, I just dont want to see democracy lie down and quietly die while rightwing extremism puts on it's democracy disguise!

it is really a scary thing because you don't have privacy anymore. all your activities are close monitored by cameras but if it is the solution to eliminate crimes it's okay for me, unless they put a certain laws that don't violates the right of the people.