BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU ...AND YOU DON’T SEEM TO MIND
Eight in every 10 people believe the government should have the right to keep people under video surveillance in public areas Six in every 10 people believe the government should have the right to collect information about anyone living in Britain without their knowledge Five in every 10 people believe the government should have the right to monitor emails and any other information exchanged on the internet And nearly five in every 10 people believe the government should have the right to collect information about anyone living in other countries without their knowledge
SIX in every 10 people think the government should have the right to collect information about anyone living in Britain without their knowledge.
That is according to the 2017 British Social Attitudes report - an annual survey conducted by Britain’s largest social research agency, NatCen Social Research.
Each year the survey asks people what it’s like to live in Britain and how they think Britain is run.
It found five in every 10 Brits think the government should definitely or probably have the right to monitor emails and any other information exchanged on the internet which is lucky given that the government keeps a record of every website citizens visit for up to a year, including mobile phone apps and metadata from phone calls. Data from the survey also found that half of Brits think the government should definitely or probably monitor emails and any other information exchanged on the internet.
Some eight in every 10 people believe the government should keep people under video surveillance in public areas.
There are currently 5.9 million CCTV surveillance cameras in the UK, according to the British Security Industry Association.
Brits are less sure, though, whether the government should definitely or probably have the right to snoop on anyone living in other countries without their knowledge - though the figure is still 49 per cent.
The findings come after the Investigatory Powers Bill was passed at the end of 2016. This gave police, intelligence officers and government employees the power to see internet connection records without warrants.
There is no judicial oversight to this law meaning access to citizens’ web histories is at the discretion of the police, with a specially trained supervising officer approving or denying requests.
Authors of the report called their findings “illiberal”.
They added: “The balance of public opinion supports government interventions despite the fact that these might limit individual freedoms.” Open Rights Group
a campaigning organisation that challenges threats to online privacy by the government. Executive Jim Killock said: “The questions asked in the survey are uncontroversial and unfortunately do not strike at the heart of the problem with government mass surveillance. “Of course governments should have the right to monitor emails and collect information without a suspect’s knowledge. “The question is whether a government should know everything about everybody on the off chance that someone turns out to be a suspect.”