"The inquiry, which is set against a backdrop of increased use
of CCTV, the creation of the national DNA database, the new NHS
Spine and the proposals for ID cards, will seek to find out if
increased surveillance and data collection by the state have
fundamentally altered the way it relates to its citizens," said the
Committee's announcement.
In 2004, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas warned that
Britain was in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society.
In November 2006 he said in a statement, "Today I fear that we are
in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all
around us."
With high numbers of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras
per head of population, ID cards and digital passports on their way
and the creation of new databases such as that of the NHS, people
living in the UK are becoming increasingly monitored.
The Committee has indicated the questions that it wants answered
in its investigation. "What forms of surveillance and data
collection might be considered constitutionally proper or improper?
Is there a line that should not be crossed? How could it be
identified?," it said.
The investigation will look at what effect all this data
collection has on the privacy and liberty of people in the UK, and
examine whether or not the Data Protection Act represents adequate
protection for citizens.
"The nature and extent of surveillance and data collection have
changed dramatically in recent years," said Lord Holme of
Cheltenham, Chairman of the Constitution Committee. "We now have
close to 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK and with the
introduction of the NHS Spine and the ID card database the
government will hold more information about us than ever
before."
The investigation has been launched because Committee members
believe that the growing trend toward surveillance has not been
adequately analysed by people with citizens' interests at heart, or
with an eye on the effect it has on politics.
“The broad constitutional implications of these changes have not
thus far been sufficiently closely scrutinised," said Holme. "As a
Committee we hope to get to the bottom of how these changes are
altering the relationship between individuals and the State, and to
ascertain whether necessary protection is in place.”
