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I was cruising through my Google News Privacy Alert when I happened upon this article:

This is a point emphasized by a new report. In the most recent survey of “Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World,” the United States gives new meaning to the hackneyed chant, “We’re Number 1!” According to London-based Privacy International (PI), a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations, the U.S. now has an “endemic surveillance society.”

At minimum the 2007 PI report confirms, in spades, previous reports suggesting that the U.S. was moving toward implementing a thorough surveillance state. Nevertheless, even with my background in researching and writing on the subject of privacy and surveillance, I was still taken aback to see the relative comparisons between the U.S., the UK, and everyone else. Even as I stated in my TNA surveillance cover story, that “the UK is now the world’s most watched country, having upwards of five million closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras keeping a watchful eye on the public, with the average citizen being caught on camera around 300 times per day,” I was unprepared to see the stark comparisons. (Yes, I’m a slow learner!)

I decided to take a look into Privacy International to see what this report was all about.

Honestly, I did not feel that the United States would meet the standard of recording its citizens 300/times per day, but it looks like Privacy International gives the U.S. some issues of its own:

No right to privacy in constitution, though search and seizure protections exist in 4th Amendment; case law on government searches has considered new technology

No comprehensive privacy law, many sectoral laws; though tort of privacy

FTC continues to give inadequate attention to privacy issues, though issued self-regulating privacy guidelines on advertising in 2007

State-level data breach legislation has proven to be useful in identifying faults in security

REAL-ID and biometric identification programs continue to spread without adequate oversight, research, and funding structures

Extensive data-sharing programs across federal government and with private sector

Spreading use of CCTV

Congress approved presidential program of spying on foreign communications over U.S. networks, e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, etc.; and now considering immunity for telephone companies, while government claims secrecy, thus barring any legal action

No data retention law as yet, but equally no data protection law

World leading in border surveillance, mandating trans-border data flows

Weak protections of financial and medical privacy; plans spread for ‘rings of steel’ around cities to monitor movements of individuals

Democratic safeguards tend to be strong but new Congress and political dynamics show that immigration and terrorism continue to leave politicians scared and without principle

Lack of action on data breach legislation on the federal level while REAL-ID is still compelled upon states has shown that states can make informed decisions

Recent news regarding FBI biometric database raises particular concerns as this could lead to the largest database of biometrics around the world that is not protected by strong privacy law

Interesting article on public trust of data security:

Privacy International’s Director, Simon Davies, warned that the statistics revealed a deep-seated public anxiety over the way data was being handled. “Commerce has nothing if it loses trust. People will simply not risk putting their personal information onto commercial systems. It follows that they will also go out of their way to minimise their interaction with government systems.”

Related posts:

1. Data Privacy Day
2. 9/11 Commission Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board
3. Real ID Civil Liberties Issues
4. S. 563 02/13/08 Senate Real ID Extension Bill
5. Maryland Governor Signs On to Real ID