We investigate: surveillance technology

Our lives intersect with computers to such an extent that we are often unaware of their influence. From the alarm clock’s call to our evening entertainment, practically everything we do is in some way controlled, aided or recorded by a computer.

Much of this interaction is insignificant, but governments and companies are taking an increasing interest in the electronic footprints we leave in our wake, which are as detailed and indelible as they are unique.

The number of databases in which our identities, movements and associations appear is growing quickly. The cost of technology to usefully collect and analyse personal data is tumbling, and the UK is now seen as a pioneer in the use of mass surveillance.

There is a growing public perception that the government is desperately interested in our electronic footprints, but to what end?

Are we entering a time when innocent patterns of activity can accidentally mark us out as potential enemies of the state or is it all being done for benign reasons of public safety, crime detection and resource provisioning?

Such concerns go back to a time when computers were still in their infancy and most people had practically no interaction with them at all.

An efficient tyranny?
Back in 1970, Professor AS Douglas of the London School of Economics was a worried man. Writing in the October 1970 issue of Science Journal, he asked: “Would we be happy under an efficient tyranny ­ one in which every movement and action of the citizen was recorded, analysed, cross-checked instantaneously and no incident, no matter how trivial, ever forgotten?"

The systems Professor Douglas foresaw are now falling into place, but are they really as sinister as some people believe?

Take a simple shopping trip, for example. Driving into town, your number plate may be recorded using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. In London this system is used to operate the congestion charge but across the country the police use mobile ANPR cameras as a dragnet to pull over people without licences or insurance, or those accused of other crimes.

The tabloid press claimed in March that the police also have access to the Highways Agency’s own ANPR network, which was originally set up to anonymously monitor traffic flow. The Highways Agency says that while the police can request information from this database concerning specific incidents or suspected crimes, police forces cannot access the recorded data directly.

Your movements on public transport are also tracked. In London, for example, using an Oyster card means your progress through the Underground can be traced as it is touched on the sensors that open ticket gates.