[Infowarrior] - UK: Road cameras expand Big Brother network

[Richard Forno]

'Big Brother' plan for police to use new road cameras


http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2128878,00.html

Alan Travi, home affairs editor
Wednesday July 18, 2007
The Guardian

"Big Brother" plans to automatically hand the police details of the daily
journeys of millions of motorists tracked by road pricing cameras across the
country were inadvertently disclosed by the Home Office last night.

Leaked Whitehall background papers reveal that Home Office and transport
ministers have clashed over plans for legislation this autumn enabling the
police to get automatic "real-time" access to the bulk data from the traffic
cameras now going into operation. The Home Office says the police need the
data from the cameras, which can read and store every passing numberplate,
"for all crime fighting purposes".

But transport ministers warn of concerns about privacy and "the potential
for adverse publicity relating to plans for local road pricing" also due to
be unveiled this autumn. There are already nearly 2,000 automatic number
plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in place and they are due to double as road
pricing schemes are expanded across the country.

Douglas Alexander, who was transport secretary until three weeks ago, told
the Home Office the bulk transfer of data to the police was out of
proportion to the problem and "might be seen as colouring the debate about
road charging (that material being collected for traffic purposes is being
used for other outcomes)".

The leaked Home Office note emerged yesterday as it was announced that the
home secretary, Jacqui Smith, had waived Data Protection Act safeguards to
allow the bulk transfer of data from London's congestion charge and traffic
cameras to the Metropolitan police for the specific purpose of tracking
potential terrorists in and around the capital. Transport for London was
very reluctant to hand over the data without the home secretary issuing a
special certificate exempting it from legal action from motorists worried
about breach of their privacy.

The leaked paper reveals that Home Office officials rate even this limited
proposal as "highly controversial," never mind extending it across the whole
country for "crime fighting".

"Civil rights groups and privacy campaigners may condemn this as further
evidence of an encroaching 'big brother' approach to policing and security,
particularly in light of the recent e-petition on roads pricing," says a
Home Office note on its 'handling strategy' for the issue in reference to
the runaway success of a petition on the Downing Street website against road
charging. "Conversely, there may be surprise that the data collected by the
congestion charge cameras is not already used for national security purposes
and may lead to criticism that the matter is yet to be resolved."

The leaked document also reveals the scale of possible national surveillance
with ANPR. The police can compare details of vehicles entering the London
congestion charge zone against a hotlist of target vehicles, and identify
cars that have been at several sites at key times. The police say this could
help pinpoint finds of terrorist material. At present the police can apply
for the London congestion zone records only on a case by case basis. The new
power will give police live access to all the data.

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg, said the
"unintended act of open government" had revealed the disingenuous attitude
of ministers towards public fears about a creeping surveillance state: "No
wonder Douglas Alexander was keen to tone down these proposals, since he
must know that public resistance to a road charging scheme will go through
the roof if it is based on technology which poses a threat to personal
privacy. Bit by bit, vast computer databases are being made inter-operable
and yet the government seems to running scared of a full and public debate."

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "It is one thing to ask
the public for special measures to fight the grave threat of terrorism, but
when that becomes a Trojan horse for mass snooping for more petty matters it
only leads to a loss of trust in government."