Critically evaluate whether Britain constitutes a total surveillance Essay

Critically evaluate whether Britain constitutes a total surveillance society - Essay Example Amongst many countries U.K has invested most money to install high speed surveillance computer and camera to watch out for criminal threats in public. However, surveillance is not so easily accepted by public as they believe it is violating their privacy rights by interfering in their social freedom. It is believed that soon U.K. will be an electronic police state. This paper will focus on covering various aspects of U.K. being a surveillance society in which all details of personal lives are gathered, stored and processed with computer as a data base owned by corporations and government departments (Lyon, 1994). In 2006, Surveillance studies network, a group run by academics compared the surveillance process going on in several western countries and claimed U.K. to be the most surveilled country. The report stated that U.K. does not have any control over its democracy and it cannot give individuals their privacy (Britain is surveillance society , 2006) Since then several issues have risen regarding U.K converting into a surveillance society. In 2009, a report published by House of Lords Constitution Committee,  called Surveillance: Citizens and the State stated that such increased surveillance by private companies and government is an invasion to the nations privacy rights. Nothing has brought such a significant change in lives of British since Second World War. Mass surveillance is like a weapon that can eradicate all borders of privacy. Privacy is important to anybody wishing for freedom. Mass surveillance also threatens to break the constitutional foundations forming the base of democracy of U.K. (BBC, 2006). The surveillance studies network report named Malaysia, China and Britain as the countries with most endemic surveillance. The head of the group Mr. Thomas raised several issues regarding such massive surveillance. He highlighted all the risks involved if this private