Surveillance Britain.

[northwestman]

The Government is trying to sneak through new powers in the new Criminal Justice Bill. The measures – not referred to explicitly in the Bill – will allow the police to run facial recognition searches on a database containing 50 million UK driving licence holders to compare the biometric data contained in their photographs with images captured by CCTV or on social media. This new sweeping power should worry anyone who cares about the fundamental rights to privacy and free expression.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/surveillance-britain-police-photos-facial-recognition

Plus, the Government is also seeking powers under the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to inspect the bank accounts of all people receiving the state pension and other benefits.

At the moment, almost 9 million claimants would be caught in the surveillance net, including:

5.8 million universal credit claimants

1.6 million employment and support allowance claimants

1.4 million pension credit claimants

And add to that figure everyone in receipt of a state pension.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was brought in to combat terrorism and organised crime, ended up being used to spy on dog walkers, pigeon feeders and people putting out their wheelie bins too early.

[servernaside]

Dec 21, 2023 21:46:22 GMT 1 northwestman said:

The Government is trying to sneak through new powers in the new Criminal Justice Bill. The measures – not referred to explicitly in the Bill – will allow the police to run facial recognition searches on a database containing 50 million UK driving licence holders to compare the biometric data contained in their photographs with images captured by CCTV or on social media. This new sweeping power should worry anyone who cares about the fundamental rights to privacy and free expression.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/surveillance-britain-police-photos-facial-recognition

Plus, the Government is also seeking powers under the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to inspect the bank accounts of all people receiving the state pension and other benefits.

At the moment, almost 9 million claimants would be caught in the surveillance net, including:

5.8 million universal credit claimants

1.6 million employment and support allowance claimants

1.4 million pension credit claimants

And add to that figure everyone in receipt of a state pension.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was brought in to combat terrorism and organised crime, ended up being used to spy on dog walkers, pigeon feeders and people putting out their wheelie bins too early.

The boat has long since sailed on any notion of privacy, or police/government control over personal data.  Modern technology rather than any government policy is largely to blame.  If something can be done, it will be done.