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‘Big Brother’ will end up being more powerful than Orwell could have ever predicted thanks to the rise of technology and the powerlessness of citizens to resist. Researchers yesterday identified the marked increase in CCTV cameras, supermarket loyalty cards, camera phones and even photo-sharing sites as potential threats to British citizens. Delivering the ominous verdict, the Royal Academy of Engineers called engineers and IT professionals to ‘design in privacy’ into their developments for the survival of personal privacy. Unless steps are taken, including a debate on how personal data will be stored and a charter to spell out individuals’ data rights, criminals and terrorists will keep hijacking personal details. The government was also singled out as a threat to personal privacy, in wake of a future that will see more personal information than ever before stored on databases, such as on the NIR. The academy expressed concern that private medical records, companies’ profiling techniques and even shopping habits could be used against people. “It is not entirely absurd to imagine that supermarket 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 treatment by the NHS,” the study said. However, the academy cautioned that the government may not be empowered by the erosion - rather it may be ordinary people who may become “the nemesis of privacy.” The verdict was based on today’s world of “matchbox-sized camcorders, camera-phones, always-on broadband, RFID” and the explosion of online portals that host photographs. “Civilians…can expect their image to be captured not only by CCTV cameras, but by amateur photographers who will publish their pictures on the Web,” the academy said. “It has commonly been accepted that a photographer wishing to publish a photograph must seek permission from anyone appearing in it, but current behaviour makes this almost impossible. “As ways of searching the internet also improve, pictures, and other personal information, on hitherto obscure web pages will become easier to locate.” It added that citizens are in no position to accept or reject surveillance, meaning the definition of what counts as a reasonable expectation of privacy will “inevitably change.” According to the academy, the only solution lies with the designers and architects of new IT systems, as well as engineers, who it said have a responsibility to enhance data protection. “Research should be pursued into the possibility of 'designing for privacy' and a concern for privacy should be encouraged amongst practising engineers and engineering teachers,” the study added. “Possibilities include designing methods of payment for travel and other goods and services without revealing identity; and protecting electronic personal information by using similar methods to those used for protecting copyrighted electronic material.” Engineers and IT professionals are however powerless to act against the growing network of CCTV cameras, which the academy said may, overall, be counterproductive. The academy cited an increasing amount of evidence that CCTV operators engage in racial and socio-economic profiling, which typically penalises black males. According to Norris and Armstrong, the “gaze of the cameras do not fall equally on users of the street but on those who are stereotypically predefined as potentially deviant, or through appearance and demeanor are singled out by operators as unrespectable.” CCTV cameras were this week reported to be the subject of a major upgrade by the Home Office following concern from police about the quality of images supplied as evidence. The Daily Telegraph has claimed new laws would require camera operators to ensure that their equipment records images good enough for police investigations. Figures show Britain has by far the largest number of surveillance cameras in the world with an estimated five million in public and private ownership – about one for every 12 people. Mar 28, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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