The right to privacy

CCTV has been used by Labour as their main way of fighting crime. Since the 1998 Crime Reduction Act, the number of CCTV cameras in the UK has risen astronomically from a few thousand to over a million (exactly how many is unknown). It is unclear whether CCTV has been effective in reducing crime, and the ubiquitous cameras have led critics to talk of the UK’s transformation into a ‘Big Brother’ or a ‘nanny’ state. Other government measures have added weight to these Orwellian concerns. The 2006 Identity Cards Act provided the legal framework for compulsory ID cards to be issued to everyone over 16 who remains in the UK for longer than 3 months. The proposed card can store 52 pieces of information on the National Identity Register (NIR) about every individual, any of which could be passed on by the Home Office to any other public authority when deemed necessary. The cards have been criticised as being too expensive, both for the government (around ?10 billion) and the individual (they could cost up to ?60 each), and for being ineffectual in tackling terrorism and stopping illegal immigration, two of their intended aims. The launch of the card has been delayed several times, but is currently tabled for all new passport applicants for 2012.

The NIR is one of several controversial government databases: the National DNA database, which was set up in 1995 to retain the DNA records of criminals, is the largest in the world except for that of the US, and contains the DNA records of over 4.4 million people. Of these, 850,000 are innocent, including 40,000 children, while 40% of convicted criminals in the UK do not appear. In December 2008 the European Court of Human Rights judged that the database was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Other databases labelled illegal by groups such as the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust include ContactPoint, which contains the personal details of children; Onset, which identifies potential child offenders by examining their behaviour and social background; and the Detailed Care Record, which enables GPs, nurses and social workers to make unmonitored updates of patients’ NHS records. David Cameron has pledged to scrap ID cards and ContactPoint if he is elected.

The UK public’s fears for their privacy were heightened by a number of high-profile cases in 2007-8 in which confidential records concerning child benefits, the armed forces, justice staff, driving test candidates and criminals were lost in incidents involving stolen laptops, mislaid memory sticks, computer disks and documents left on commuter trains.