Eek! NZ getting like UK

[buckthesystem]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/print/4020730a10.html

Sleepwalking into a surveillance society

New Zealand risks descending into a surveillance society like Britain where people are continually monitored as they work, shop and move around, privacy watchdogs warn.

AN AVERAGE KIWI'S DAILY ELECTRONIC FOOTPRINT

"This huge information technology revolution we are living through is exciting. Many amazing and useful things can be done. Beyond useful - lifesaving," New Zealand's privacy commissioner, Marie Shroff, says.

"But what we should do is take a look at how the technology is being used."

In Britain, reputedly the most spied upon country, information commissioner Richard Thomas has repeatedly warned people they are "sleepwalking into a surveillance society".

Twenty per cent of the world's CCTV cameras are in Britain - one for every 12 people.

The average person can be caught on CCTV 300 times a day. An innovation about to be piloted in 20 areas is talking cameras, enabling anyone misbehaving to be told off by a loudspeaker.

Ms Shroff told The Dominion Post New Zealand could expect to follow the same track. "What happens in the UK is probably going to happen here tomorrow," she said. "We're the same sort of society."

The erosion of privacy comes as databases are compiled, bought and sold by companies, political parties and government departments.

Technological advances allow employers, local authorities and shops to monitor staff, ratepayers and customers.

Cellphones, loyalty programmes, vehicle registrations and even microchipped pets are potential sources of information about people's lives.

Kiwis appear to be increasingly worried about surveillance. In the Privacy Commission's 2006 survey, 56 per cent of respondents were concerned about individual privacy, up from 47 per cent five years earlier.

The security of personal details on the Internet concerned 84 per cent of people and 54 per cent were worried about the availability of details on public registers, though only 30 per cent were concerned about video surveillance in public places.

Did you know?

It is legal for anyone to buy a copy of your birth certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages. That and a letter addressed to you are all that is needed to get a driver's licence in your name.

If you were born in New Zealand from 1969 onward, a sample of blood from a prick of your heel was taken at birth and kept in an Auckland health laboratory. This is the most comprehensive collection of dna data in the country but can be accessed by police only in extreme circumstances, such as identification of a corpse.

Anyone can look up your car registration on the motor vehicle register and get your details.

Every time your mobile phone is called, texted or turned on, its whereabouts is recorded by telecommunication firms.

In the inner city, Wellingtonians are under the watchful eye of three city council security cameras, rolling 24 hours a day. Numerous shops and businesses and some schools have their own cameras.

Commuter trains on the Johnsonville, Paraparaumu and Hutt Valley lines have surveillance cameras in some carriages, with the number set to multiply in coming months.

The trend is seen in workplaces. Professional Investigators Institute president Trevor Morley said it was common for bosses to keep a covert eye on staff using hidden cameras.

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