Britain fast becoming surveillance society: Report

London, Nov 2 (UNI) Britain is fast becoming a ''big brother'' surveillance society as shopping habits, travel movements and car and train journeys are being increasingly monitored.

According to a report published today, it warns that funding from war on terror is being used to explore the opportunity of connecting data-gathering systems to track the movements and behaviour of millions of people.

Massive surveillance systems have been put in place to help the Government, law and order agencies and companies to keep a closer check on citizens.

''Parents will be able to track their children's whereabouts and through the use of smart cards, know what meals they are eating at school. Companies will be able to target their marketing at particular streets and communities such as prudent pensioners and fledgling nurseries,'' the report said.

However, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas warns that excessive surveillance may create a climate of suspicion. He said the system could help fight terrorism and crime and improve access to public services. '' But more the information is collected, shared and used, the more it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions that directly influence people's lives.'' ''Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences, false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality and breaches of security,'' he added.

David Murakami Wood, from the Surveillance Studies Network, which prepared the report said,''Surveillance is not a malign plot hatched by evil powers to control the population. But surveillance society has come about almost without us realising.

With technologies that are large scale, taken for granted and often invisible, surveillance is increasingly everywhere.'' The report has also warned that the extent of surveillance seems to indicate a world where the citizen is not trusted. It said, ''Surveillance fosters suspicion. The employer who installs keystroke monitors at workstations or global positioning satellite devices in service vehicles is saying that they do not trust their employees.'' With an estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit televisions in Britain, one for every 14 people, a person can be captured on more than 300 cameras each day. Consumer data are being divided into four categories--geographic, demographic, psychographic and consumer behaviour.

Transactions involving the use of a credit card, mobile phone, internet and bank cards provide trails linked to an individual or type of person, the report said. Loyalty cards, focus groups, call centre contacts and promotional contests all provide extra details.

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