The BBC’s Lack of Irony Department
Sunday, 22 November 2009
The BBC’s Lack of Irony department has been at it again. On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of Radio 5 Live presenters, Nicky Campbell, was remembering the momentous occasion and reminded listeners that the event had liberated East Germans, describing them as “the most spied upon people” in the world. It’s a shame that modern journalists seem to have lost the art of linking two very obvious stories......
There is no doubt that East Germany, like all of the parts of the Soviet empire, was a repressive country, although it’s another debate about whether any of them were truly socialist as the workers weren’t allowed to organise, making them more like state capitalist regimes. In fact, it’s a shame more British left wingers didn’t celebrate the demise of the hated wall.
THE NATIONAL DNA DATABASE (NDNAD)
Having said that, it was hugely disappointing that the BBC were unable to join the very heavy dots between the Berlin Wall story and another news story featured later in the same programme, in which the DNA database was discussed. The UK government has the largest national DNA database in the world and its policy of retaining for an unlimited time DNA samples from individuals arrested or charged but not convicted is both unjust and in contravention of European law. The government has now generously decided to break the law to a lesser extent by agreeing to keep the DNA samples of innocent people for a period of six years.
CLOSED-CIRCUIT TELEVISION (CCTV)
The most obvious link from the story of the day was the fact that, in the UK, we are now the most spied upon people in the world. Obviously the East German form of spying was nasty, horrible and repressive whereas our surveillance is cute, cuddly and for a noble purpose. Except that our use of CCTV technology is largely unregulated and there are doubts whether it achieves all that it’s meant to in terms of crime prevention or detection. This is the low to which UK journalism has sunk. Boo to the communist nasties, hooray for lovely western capitalist democracy.
There are more CCTV cameras in Britain than any other country in the world
ID CARDS
The Identity Cards Act was passed in 2006 but remains heavily opposed by civil liberties groups, the other main political parties and the public who would need to fund their own surveillance. Estimated implementation costs are £15 billion but the government is refusing to disclose its figures, citing commercial confidentiality. Although Gordon Brown said at the Labour Conference that, “in the next Parliament there will be no compulsory ID cards for British citizens”, we will still need to register when we renew our passports and, once we’re registered, there’s no way out. Biometric passports will have fingerprint data in addition to current requirements. Previously ID cards had been introduced in Britain during the Second World War but the legislation was repealed by Winston Churchill’s government in 1952 after a North London man refused to show his card and won his case in the High Court.
A CONTEXT OF SUSPICION
All of this creep towards a surveillance society is in the context of a growing trust gap between ordinary citizens, the government and the police. Even if some low level civil servant doesn’t leave a copy of the entire national database on a Victoria Line train, we’re not sure that the data won’t be used for malign purposes. Would I trust the police with my data? Absolutely not. Do you want the government to have access to all of your telephone calls, texts, emails and internet use?? Terrorists might have to revert to sending letters and the Royal Mail will have to open all post and check it for undemocratic sentiments, deleting any content which might be deemed subversive. It’s true that in the UK we don’t have the Berlin Wall but we do have a huge gap opening up between the state and its citizens, and that’s something we all need to fight.
An estimated 7% of the UK population are on the national database (compared with an estimated 0.5% of the population the US)
SURVEILLANCE – THE FIGURES
There are more CCTV cameras in Britain than any other country in the world.
There are so many that the exact number is not known, but one estimate puts it as high as 4.8 million, roughly one for every 12 people (compared to China with an estimated 2.75 million CCTV cameras or one for every 450,000 citizens).
In London alone, there are half a million CCTV cameras. That number should be reliable because in 2008, the Metropolitan Police used it when announcing its plans to provide security for the 2012 Olympics.
The Metropolitan Police has 10,000 CCTVs in place around London. The other 490,000 are owned by shopkeepers, private citizens, local councils and Transport for London, which operates the underground and bus lines.
The London Borough of Wandsworth has the highest absolute number of CCTV cameras of any local authority (although the Shetlands are the most surveilled per capita).
An estimated 7% of the UK population are on the national database (compared with an estimated 0.5% of the population the US)
"The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long-standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy......
SURVEILLANCE – SOME QUOTES
“Video surveillance of public areas by public authorities or law enforcement agencies can constitute an undeniable threat to fundamental rights such as the right to privacy” – Council of Europe ruling (March 2007)
“Whilst a universal National DNA Database would be more logical than the current arrangements, we think that it would be undesirable both in principle on the grounds of civil liberties, and in practice on the grounds of cost.” – House of Lords Select Committee (February 2009)
"The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long-standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy......If the public are to trust that information about them is not being improperly used there should be much more openness about what data is collected, by whom and how it is used." – Lord Goodlad, Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution (February 2009)
ID cards were “an annoyance” to much of the public and “tended to turn law-abiding subjects into law breakers” – Lord Chief Justice Goddard (1951)
LINKS
Citizens and the State: House of Lords Select Committee Report February 2009
Privacy International UK Report
