As you walk around the streets of almost any major city or town in the UK, you will become increasingly aware of the fact that you are being watched, your every action recorded by the countless CCTV cameras which are now ubiquitous. There are the official council/police run cameras as well as the cameras that now seem to be both inside and outside a lot of high street shops/banks etc. I don’t ever remember being asked if I minded being filmed and observed as I go about my daily business. You see the occasional sign telling you that CCTV cameras are in use but that’s it. They even have them on the buses and trains.
Ok, so somewhere on those tapes, scattered around different CCTV installations, is an almost complete record of where you went on Saturday. And it doesn’t stop there either, lots of other data about you is being gathered and stored and used. If you have a loyalty card (e.g. Nectar), every time you use it, your buying habits are being recorded for use by advertising agencies, retailers and probably anyone else who asks for it. If you use an Oyster card to travel around London, there is a clear trail recorded of all your movements. I would never use a Nectar card as, at least, that is something I can opt out of. And let’s not even mention email etc!
This surveillance of citizens is apparently in place to protect us all. Fuelled by paranoia and the kind of right-wing, selfish ignorance of say, Daily Mail readers 
we are watched, tracked and recorded, day and night, to keep us safe from the marauding hordes of thieves, paedophiles, maniacs, gypsies, immigrants and other ne’er do wells 
If ever there was a clear indication that New Labour have nothing to do with what was once the Labour Party, this is it. Under their government, we have become the most watched and tracked society ever. Civil liberties have been eroded to the point where we hardly notice them being chipped away any more.
And stop picking your nose! (Camera over your left shoulder…)
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