United Kingdom
At the end of 2006, the UK was described by the Surveillance Studies Network as being 'the most surveilled country' among the industrialized Western states. Although, the report this was based on has since been disputed. The original study states that there are ~4.2m CCTV Cameras in operation in the UK, a new report in 2011 shows that there are actually ~1.85m cameras in operation in the UK, 92% of which, being privately owned.
On 6 February 2009 a report by the House of Lords Constitution Committee, Surveillance: Citizens and the State, warned that increasing use of surveillance by the government and private companies is a serious threat to freedoms and constitutional rights, stating that "The expansion in the use of surveillance represents one of the most significant changes in the life of the nation since the end of the Second World War. Mass surveillance has the potential to erode privacy. As privacy is an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom, its erosion weakens the constitutional foundations on which democracy and good governance have traditionally been based in this country."
Read more about this topic: Mass Surveillance, State Enforced
Famous quotes containing the words united and/or kingdom:
“It is a united will, not mere walls, which makes a fort.”
—Chinese proverb.
“He is a strong man who can hold down his opinion. A man cannot utter two or three sentences, without disclosing to intelligent ears precisely where he stands in life and thought, namely, whether in the kingdom of the senses and the understanding, or, in that of ideas and imagination, in the realm of intuitions and duty.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)