Archive for August, 2007

The all-seeing eye – now flies!

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Another milestone was passed last weekend in the creation of the Great British Police State. Pilotless CCTV drones watched the crowds at the V Festival, the first time such surveillance has been used at a major public event. The V Festival isn’t renowned for its crime. In fact, it’s relatively free of the sort of violent thuggery that’s become the hallmark of Britain’s CCTV-saturated streets.

No matter. Such is the government’s faith in this modern-day snake oil that it is rolled out without thought. While the drones were written about by BBC Online, the Guardian, and this very interesting blog of the CCTV industry, it seems there is very little justification from the public bodies actually utilizing this form of surveillance.

Staffordshire Police’s decision to use pilotless CCTV drones seems to have come out of nowhere with the festival attendees given little advanced notice (if any?) of the surveillance. I’ve put in a freedom of information request asking a few questions:

1. Who authorised this use and what was the cost?
2. Was an evaluation made on the legality and safety of such use? If so, please supply a copy of these evaluations.
3. Was an analysis conducted as required by the Data Protection Act 1998? If so, please supply a copy of this analysis.
4. What type and number of records were collected? (For example: 72 hours of video footage, 200 photographs, etc)
5. What was done with these records? By this I mean what was done specifically with these particular records rather than your generic records disposal policy or general ‘best-practice’ guidelines.
6. What details or notice was given about the surveillance?
7. Will the drones be used in future and what is the policy of use (please supply a copy of the use policy. If such a policy does not exist please explain why).
8. How many officers are needed to control the drone and what sort of training do they have for this task?

If anyone else feels like making similar enquiries then you can of course make a request to:

Information Compliance Unit
Staffordshire Police Headquarters
Cannock Road
Stafford ST17 0QG
Email: foi@staffordshire.pnn.police.uk

Posted in Crime & Justice, Freedom of Information | 1 Comment »

XXXX-rated bureaucracy

Thursday, August 9th, 2007

Faceless anonymity in the bastions of bureaucracy is a clear indicator that government is no longer working for the people. The refusal of public servants to be named and to hide behind unanswered generic switchboard numbers or, even worse costly 0870 telephone extensions, reveals a government afraid and out of touch with its citizens.

In the UK, the private citizen is subjected to invasive snooping by the state, while public officials use ‘privacy’ as an excuse to avoid accountability.

A prime example of this lunacy comes from the Department for Transport’s freedom of information disclosure log (but they are by no means the only guilty party):

Download the pdf and you’ll see that the FOI request was answered (unhelpfully) by:

xxxx
Team Leader – Access & Operations
(Acting)
Rail & National Networks Group
Department for Transport
3/34 Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
LONDON
SW1P 4DR
Direct Line: 020 7944 xxxx

And it’s not a one-off. Here’s another example from:

xxxx
Freedom of Information Coordinator
Rail Procurement

I have never seen such rubbish. What sort of leadership training are these people going on where they think it acceptable to hide their name and direct number from the public in whose name they are working and by whose taxes they are paid?

Posted in Freedom of Information | 3 Comments »