Big Brother and the Database State

Technology is advancing exponentially and with it the amount of information that is shared because of it. The internet has placed each individual with access to a world wide web of information, but with great power comes great potential for misuse, and today's modern usurpers aren't robbing banks with shotguns anymore. They're information gathering, as we all know, knowledge is power.

New advances in technology are predominantly designed to lighten the load of the user and provide opportunities that had may not previously been available. Chip & Pin was designed to make cashless shopping more accessible and widely available. Japan is now implementing a system whereby top-up cards are run in conjunction with users' mobile phones and the handset itself can be scanned to pay for smaller purchase items, such as sandwiches, and taxis. With a nation of 91 million internet users, 85% of which are mobile, and growing 8 times faster than their stoic PC users, it's a technology market that is swiftly evolving.

Mastercard have come up with a similar idea with their 'Tap and Go' card linked through your mobile, which similarly will be swiped without the need for entering a pin number. Peter Aylife, Chief Executive commented by 2012 card payments would be cheaper and more convenient than cash, with some retailers surcharging cash payments.

The push towards a cashless society has moved on from withdrawing cheques, and has removed cash from workplaces such as banks and financial institutions, to schools. 'Kiddiprints' is the new cashless incentive for catering in schools designed to save time, improve security, and even cut down on bullying. This is all implemented through CRB Solutions fingerprint database, which uses a mathematical algorithm similar to the police to store data. Vericool, a company supplying this technology is an arm of Anteon, an American company responsible for the training of interrogators in Guantanamo.

The government are still pushing for biometric I.D cards, and are still producing biometric passports and compiling the National Identity Register. This has been helped along infinitely by the recent terrorism legislation which gives the state, and police more powers like 'stop and search' under the blanket of National Security.

In a recent furore, the European court ruled it was unlawful to search people without grounds for suspicion. During the enquiry it also came to light that Greater London had been secretly designated for stop and search without suspicion since 2001. Serious concerns were raised over decisions of police officers searching people merely on a 'hunch'.

This relentless 'information gathering' and profiling (see Taking Liberties, 10/09) of individuals doesn't just extend to police powers. With the rise of social networking sites an individual's personal information is is subject to scrutiny by advertisers and marketing companies, such as Beacon, which tracks users' activity elsewhere on the net and markets products to their habits.

It seems careless talk costs lives, or at least liberties. In a seemingly innocuous comment on twitter, Paul Chambers posted "Robin Hood Airport is closed... You've got a week to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high". He was subsequently arrested under the Terrorism Act 200, and was released hours later under police bail. He has also been suspended from work, and had his laptop and iphone confiscated.

The National DNA Database holds approximately 4 million people on file (1.1m children) and the numbers are constantly growing. Despite being in recession, Gordon Brown is opting to install broadband into all homes that can't afford it by 2012, an incentive costing approximately 300m. This scheme is said to provide parents with a more integrated involvement in their children's progress in school.

Last week saw the latest internet fiasco come to light. What started as a dispute between Google and China's censorship rights has exploded into a conspiratorial nightmare. It came to light, that since 2007, head of MI5, Johnathan Evans, had warned over 300 British firms (including Rolls Royce) that Chinese hackers were trying to remotely access their records stealing 'source code' for software and technology, and these hackers even had the sanction of Beijing.

A paper was released in October by the US-China Economic and Security Commission summarising the last 10 years of China's internet intrusion and revealed the Chinese government have been gathering intelligence in order to establish an upper hand during conflict. Though China denies it, the report suggests this targeting of defence engineering data is beyond the capabilities of independent cyber-hackers, it suggests state sponsorship.

We are living in a world where the pen, or keystroke, is mightier than the sword, and information dominance is a free-for-all for anything that lies in the ether. In a system where even our most sensitive data is 'up for grabs' how can the Government justify profiling the nation, storing it on massive databases for the potential for gross misuse to anyone wily enough to steal it? Already we are the most surveyed nation, being harassed for kicks, and arrested when we speak out of turn. Liberty is fading, blink and you might miss it.