Warning over growth of surveillance

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Search: Lords privacy criticism

The growth of surveillance and the rise of the database state is "undermining" the public's right to privacy, a damning report claims.

In it peers criticise the "incessant creep" of CCTV snooping and the recording of personal information by Government.

Members of the House of Lords Constitution Committee say the UK has more CCTV cameras and a bigger DNA database per person than anywhere else in the world.

They call for ministers and Parliament to exercise much greater restraint in authorising more surveillance and data collection.

Councils should be stopped from using powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, they say, and compensation paid to anyone who has been the subject of unlawful monitoring.

The use of such powers - which were criticised when it was revealed they were used to monitor people putting out their bins and whether schoolchildren lived in the right catchment area - should also be monitored by judges.

Ministers are also urged to "act quickly" to comply with the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ruling on the DNA database.

Anyone who voluntarily gives their DNA to police during an investigation but is not a suspect should have it removed automatically, they say.

Any new extension of data collection should be examined to measure its impact on privacy, and there should be legally enforceable codes of conduct for CCTV use.

The committee's chairman, Lord Goodlad, said: "The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy."

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