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There is something called The Central Database that holds over a million pieces of info on every single person in this country.
Ok, fair enough?
Well, when you consider that they monitor everything you do, even down to your spending habits, I find this level of surveillance offensive and disturbing. However, having contacted someone via
www.dataprotection.gov.uk
They have informed me of the following:
Your spending habits are monitored through a variety of means.
Whenever you withdraw cash, that serial number is noted on the database and wherever you spend it is noted as well, this way certain organisations are able to build a profile of you for "business purposes".
They are able to see where you were that day through the location of the ATM you used, where you spent your money and what you liket to spend it on.
This is why junk-mail is tailored to your needs.
Buy a lot of CDs? Recieve Britannia Music Club stuff and so on.
And every single purchase you make with a credit or debit card is also logged and monitored. The following info is stored:
The amount
Where you used the card
What you used the card on
Any previous similar purchases
And how did I even know about this and email the data protection website?
3 weeks ago I bought a tv for my girlfriend, using a Visa card. Not a credit card, but a debit card.
This morning I recieve a letter from the Tv Licensing Agency informing me that "you purchased a television, tv ready PC or similar item and we do not have a license registered from you at this address".
So I buy a tele, that is logged and checked against Gov. records and they deduce I don't have a license.
I find this intrusion and surveillance worrying, offensive and it reeks of a draconian Big Brother system where every single little thing you do and buy is monitored, logged, stored and checked.
Disgusting country that this is.
Ok, fair enough?
Well, when you consider that they monitor everything you do, even down to your spending habits, I find this level of surveillance offensive and disturbing. However, having contacted someone via
www.dataprotection.gov.uk
They have informed me of the following:
Your spending habits are monitored through a variety of means.
Whenever you withdraw cash, that serial number is noted on the database and wherever you spend it is noted as well, this way certain organisations are able to build a profile of you for "business purposes".
They are able to see where you were that day through the location of the ATM you used, where you spent your money and what you liket to spend it on.
This is why junk-mail is tailored to your needs.
Buy a lot of CDs? Recieve Britannia Music Club stuff and so on.
And every single purchase you make with a credit or debit card is also logged and monitored. The following info is stored:
The amount
Where you used the card
What you used the card on
Any previous similar purchases
And how did I even know about this and email the data protection website?
3 weeks ago I bought a tv for my girlfriend, using a Visa card. Not a credit card, but a debit card.
This morning I recieve a letter from the Tv Licensing Agency informing me that "you purchased a television, tv ready PC or similar item and we do not have a license registered from you at this address".
So I buy a tele, that is logged and checked against Gov. records and they deduce I don't have a license.
I find this intrusion and surveillance worrying, offensive and it reeks of a draconian Big Brother system where every single little thing you do and buy is monitored, logged, stored and checked.
Disgusting country that this is.
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There is something called The Central Database that holds over a million pieces of info on every single person in this country.
Ok, fair enough?
Well, when you consider that they monitor everything you do, even down to your spending habits, I find this level of surveillance offensive and disturbing. However, having contacted someone via
www.dataprotection.gov.uk
They have informed me of the following:
Your spending habits are monitored through a variety of means.
Whenever you withdraw cash, that serial number is noted on the database and wherever you spend it is noted as well, this way certain organisations are able to build a profile of you for "business purposes".
They are able to see where you were that day through the location of the ATM you used, where you spent your money and what you liket to spend it on.
This is why junk-mail is tailored to your needs.
Buy a lot of CDs? Recieve Britannia Music Club stuff and so on.
And every single purchase you make with a credit or debit card is also logged and monitored. The following info is stored:
The amount
Where you used the card
What you used the card on
Any previous similar purchases
And how did I even know about this and email the data protection website?
3 weeks ago I bought a tv for my girlfriend, using a Visa card. Not a credit card, but a debit card.
This morning I recieve a letter from the Tv Licensing Agency informing me that "you purchased a television, tv ready PC or similar item and we do not have a license registered from you at this address".
So I buy a tele, that is logged and checked against Gov. records and they deduce I don't have a license.
I find this intrusion and surveillance worrying, offensive and it reeks of a draconian Big Brother system where every single little thing you do and buy is monitored, logged, stored and checked.
Disgusting country that this is.
Ok, fair enough?
Well, when you consider that they monitor everything you do, even down to your spending habits, I find this level of surveillance offensive and disturbing. However, having contacted someone via
www.dataprotection.gov.uk
They have informed me of the following:
Your spending habits are monitored through a variety of means.
Whenever you withdraw cash, that serial number is noted on the database and wherever you spend it is noted as well, this way certain organisations are able to build a profile of you for "business purposes".
They are able to see where you were that day through the location of the ATM you used, where you spent your money and what you liket to spend it on.
This is why junk-mail is tailored to your needs.
Buy a lot of CDs? Recieve Britannia Music Club stuff and so on.
And every single purchase you make with a credit or debit card is also logged and monitored. The following info is stored:
The amount
Where you used the card
What you used the card on
Any previous similar purchases
And how did I even know about this and email the data protection website?
3 weeks ago I bought a tv for my girlfriend, using a Visa card. Not a credit card, but a debit card.
This morning I recieve a letter from the Tv Licensing Agency informing me that "you purchased a television, tv ready PC or similar item and we do not have a license registered from you at this address".
So I buy a tele, that is logged and checked against Gov. records and they deduce I don't have a license.
I find this intrusion and surveillance worrying, offensive and it reeks of a draconian Big Brother system where every single little thing you do and buy is monitored, logged, stored and checked.
Disgusting country that this is.
Really?? Bloody hell...
I can't really say anything else, as it would be exactly the same as Goatboy's last sentence.
I can't really say anything else, as it would be exactly the same as Goatboy's last sentence.
If you thought that was bad have you ever heard of the Echelon system? It has come to light over the last few years, the thh USA, Britain, Austrialia and New Zealand have a telecomunications tracking system called Echelon. This system has a bandwidth large enough to put a trace on 100 million simultaneaous telecommunications between computers, telephones, satelites, you name it. The system searches documents, telephone conversations, e-mails, web traffic etc and homes in on a list of key words as decided by the governments of the participating countries.
The system has apparently been up and running and evolving for 25 years, and has worried people down to the core of their governments. France has publically stated that it is willing to sue the United States and any other participating country of it ever finds out that the system has been used and abused to win major business contracts or gather intelligence from other nations.
It is claimed the key role of this system is to counter international terrorism, drug dealing etc. but if this is the case why was the system so highly guarded, and with the locations and status of the countries involved, it is highly likely that the system was used extensively during the Cold War to gather intelligence.
The main reason that this system is so worrying?? I may have intercepted this post I have just written and reffered it to be checked, because I mentioned it's name, all we can be sure of is, you never know who is watching.
The system has apparently been up and running and evolving for 25 years, and has worried people down to the core of their governments. France has publically stated that it is willing to sue the United States and any other participating country of it ever finds out that the system has been used and abused to win major business contracts or gather intelligence from other nations.
It is claimed the key role of this system is to counter international terrorism, drug dealing etc. but if this is the case why was the system so highly guarded, and with the locations and status of the countries involved, it is highly likely that the system was used extensively during the Cold War to gather intelligence.
The main reason that this system is so worrying?? I may have intercepted this post I have just written and reffered it to be checked, because I mentioned it's name, all we can be sure of is, you never know who is watching.
Yep.
Had no idea about this until I recieved the warning from the Licensing Agency.
I thought "how the hell do you know that?" and emailed
www.dataprotection.gov.org
and they explained it to me.
They are also thinking of introducing fingerprinting to card purchases, to "prevent fraud", but would also mean that your fingerprint is on record.
This is being tested out in a couple of cities already.
It is common practice, when arrested for anything, to be asked to provide a DNA sample "for cross referencing purposes".
So, not only are your spending habits and location monitored, but also your DNA kept on file.
Your very molecular make-up on a system somewhere.
Also mobile phone text messages are kept for a period of 3 years, in case you recieve threatening messages they can log them.
Anything else?
Emails are now legally intercepted by the police, and they have been granted powers to bug confessionals in churches if "a reasonable grounds for suspicion" can be proved.
Had no idea about this until I recieved the warning from the Licensing Agency.
I thought "how the hell do you know that?" and emailed
www.dataprotection.gov.org
and they explained it to me.
They are also thinking of introducing fingerprinting to card purchases, to "prevent fraud", but would also mean that your fingerprint is on record.
This is being tested out in a couple of cities already.
It is common practice, when arrested for anything, to be asked to provide a DNA sample "for cross referencing purposes".
So, not only are your spending habits and location monitored, but also your DNA kept on file.
Your very molecular make-up on a system somewhere.
Also mobile phone text messages are kept for a period of 3 years, in case you recieve threatening messages they can log them.
Anything else?
Emails are now legally intercepted by the police, and they have been granted powers to bug confessionals in churches if "a reasonable grounds for suspicion" can be proved.
The Echelon system is there, and several civil liberty groups are protesting it's use.
On a variation, although I am unsure of the name of it, there is a system operated out of Memworth Hill Listening Base (owned by UK, operated by USA Defence Contract) that monitors 2.5 millions phone lines and is activated by certain keywords like:
Assassinate
Saddam Hussein
IRA
Semtex
Bomb
It detects these words, records the call, the number and the time and this is then processed and supplied to MI5 on a twice weekly basis.
And, as mentioned in several movies, both the USA and the UK library systems flag certain books as "priority", so that whenever it's checked out, that title, who you are and where you live is fed straight into the central database to be collated and checked against the Memworth Hill stats.
Wherever the hell you are or what you do, read, buy or even say is recorded.
On a variation, although I am unsure of the name of it, there is a system operated out of Memworth Hill Listening Base (owned by UK, operated by USA Defence Contract) that monitors 2.5 millions phone lines and is activated by certain keywords like:
Assassinate
Saddam Hussein
IRA
Semtex
Bomb
It detects these words, records the call, the number and the time and this is then processed and supplied to MI5 on a twice weekly basis.
And, as mentioned in several movies, both the USA and the UK library systems flag certain books as "priority", so that whenever it's checked out, that title, who you are and where you live is fed straight into the central database to be collated and checked against the Memworth Hill stats.
Wherever the hell you are or what you do, read, buy or even say is recorded.
I think if you look at the benefits of all this data tracking they balance if not overweigh the losses.
For example, tracking criminals is easier, tracing missing persons is easier, prevention of terrorism is made easier and so on.
Yes we pay a price for this, our privacy isn't as 'private' as most of us would like it to be. But if you've nothing to hide in the first place, this kind of intrusion shouldn't be any worry at all.
Should all the data fall into the wrong hands, I could end up with junk mail galore (but then I'd sue), or I could lose a job because my company ran a check on me and discovered I had some fatal disease (but then I'd take them to an industrial tribunal for discrimination) etc.
We can and do see misuse of this kind, but as long as people are fully aware of their rights, they should be able to take the appropriate measures when their rights are abused.
There will always be people abusing power, there will always be miscarriages of justice, there will always be wrongs done, but I think that at least with all this data available it would make it easier to track these abuses more efficiently than before.
To me the loss of a small amount of privacy is a very small price to pay when you consider the potential benefits.
For example, tracking criminals is easier, tracing missing persons is easier, prevention of terrorism is made easier and so on.
Yes we pay a price for this, our privacy isn't as 'private' as most of us would like it to be. But if you've nothing to hide in the first place, this kind of intrusion shouldn't be any worry at all.
Should all the data fall into the wrong hands, I could end up with junk mail galore (but then I'd sue), or I could lose a job because my company ran a check on me and discovered I had some fatal disease (but then I'd take them to an industrial tribunal for discrimination) etc.
We can and do see misuse of this kind, but as long as people are fully aware of their rights, they should be able to take the appropriate measures when their rights are abused.
There will always be people abusing power, there will always be miscarriages of justice, there will always be wrongs done, but I think that at least with all this data available it would make it easier to track these abuses more efficiently than before.
To me the loss of a small amount of privacy is a very small price to pay when you consider the potential benefits.
Well,you're entitled to your opinion FM, and I ain't going to disagree with you mate.
I personally find this level of surveillance alarming and unwarranted.
I personally find this level of surveillance alarming and unwarranted.
But where is the basic freedom and libertay of people??
I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear, but that doesn't give the people I elect, and people I didn;t elect from other countries an automatic right to look in my rubbish, it has to be againt human rights and civil liberties somehow or other.
I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear, but that doesn't give the people I elect, and people I didn;t elect from other countries an automatic right to look in my rubbish, it has to be againt human rights and civil liberties somehow or other.
Not in the UK though.
We have been most careful in selection which parts of the European Charter of Human and Civil Rights we did agree to.
Basically, we agreed to the minimum wage parts and education.
We have been, on Reuters and BBCWorld, likened to "A well developed version of Salvador or Nicaragua when it comes to civil rights".
Basically we don't have any at all, and there ain't a damn thing we can do about it
We have been most careful in selection which parts of the European Charter of Human and Civil Rights we did agree to.
Basically, we agreed to the minimum wage parts and education.
We have been, on Reuters and BBCWorld, likened to "A well developed version of Salvador or Nicaragua when it comes to civil rights".
Basically we don't have any at all, and there ain't a damn thing we can do about it
As soon as I pass my degree, I'm going to Japan.
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