Russian journalist blasts 'Big Brother Britain' and compares it to life in the old Soviet Union

A Russian journalist believes the level of surveillance is worse in ‘Big Brother Britain’ than it was in Russia during the Soviet era.

Irada Zeinalova, who is based in London, said she felt she was being constantly spied on by security cameras.

She highlighted how in the UK the level of monitoring is such that even rubbish bins have computer chips fitted so councils can check what householders are throwing out.

‘Security has got absurd,’ she said. ‘I don’t like that level of intrusion into my private life.

‘London is a Big Brother city. It is all watched by cameras. Even in the days of the USSR you couldn’t imagine such a number of cameras or observers. Your moves are even monitored by your bus tickets. There are CCTV cameras on every building and computer chips on the rubbish bins.

‘They can tell a lot about your life by studying your rubbish bin. All aspects of your life are plainly visible here.’

Mrs Zeinalova, 37, an award-winning correspondent in London for the Kremlin-controlled Moscow TV station Channel One, accepted that some Russian journalists in London face close monitoring by British counter-intelligence.

One, from the Vesti TV programme, ‘had a full-scale spying operation on him. It’s a normal thing here’.

She said Londoners seemed reassured by the level of security and imagined that if some calamity occurred they would be rescued by the emergency services.

‘They explain the CCTV cameras on every corner by fighting terrorism and crime – but sadly it doesn’t solve the problems,’ she told the Moscow newspaper Komsololskaya Pravda in an interview.

‘Watching the rubbish bins, they waste more money than on the actual fight with the problems.’

On a different note, Mrs Zeinalova added: ‘And as for smokers – they are treated like lepers here.’

She said the English believed they were ‘masters of the world’.

‘The Englishmen’s position is: let all the rest of the nations argue about who is the master of the world, we won’t take part in it. We know who is the master.’

The British were also proud of their reputation for being stand- offish. ‘The British are a very special separate-nation,’ she said. ‘I have been here for two years and I communicate closely with quite a lot of people. But no matter how closely we chat, they never let me in.’

Mrs Zeinalova said the British worship TV and football.
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Being a ‘safe society’ exciting things don’t happen very often, so the British become obsessed with TV.

‘Recently, one of the TV show participants – a small and not very famous one – decided to leave,’ she said.

‘The papers were going on about it for a week. We would never have it like this in Russia. It is a completely different perception of life.’continues here

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The black box that tracks every mile you drive and will make speed cameras obsolete

Drivers face having their every move tracked by a 'spy in the car' black box. 

The system will constantly check a vehicle's speed - making cameras redundant - and allow for pay-as-you-go tolls. 

The £36million EU project is partly funded by the UK Government and backed by car makers and the telecoms industry. 

It will be unveiled later this year with a view to its integration into future cars. Manufacturers suggest this could be as early as 2013. 

there is the potential for an almost infallible surveillance system…

Vehicles fitted with the system will emit a constant 'heartbeat' pulse revealing their location, speed and direction of travel. 

EU officials believe the technology will significantly reduce road accidents, congestion and carbon emissions. 

But civil liberties campaigners say it will have profound implications for privacy by creating a Europe-wide system of Big Brother surveillance. 

The European Commission has already 
asked governments to reserve a radio frequency for the system to operate on. 

Engineers say the system will be able to track cars to within a yard, making it significantly more accurate than existing satellite navigation technology. 

Experts say the system will link up easily with the pay-as-you-drive road tolls being backed by the Government. 

The system allows cars to 'talk' to one another and to roads wired up to the system. A communication device behind the dashboard transmits the car's location every half a second. 

The messages are transmitted through mobile and wireless networks, as well as on short-range microwave or infrared routes. Vehicles will be able to warn each other if they are on collision course. 

The location data will also be picked up by roadside detectors and mobile phone towers. That will allow traffic lights to turn green when vehicles approach. 



Data on cars will also be sent to traffic control centres to allow police or civilian controllers to monitor and even direct vehicles.

General Motors - the troubled owner of Vauxhall - is among those trialling the technology.

The Department for Transport said there were no plans to make the system mandatory in new cars. Its introduction will be on a voluntary basis, according to Paul Kompfner, manager of the Cooperative-Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems project.

He added: 'A traffic controller will know where all vehicles are and even where they are headed.

'That would result in a significant reduction in congestion and replace the need for cameras.'

He said the scheme needed wide uptake to work.

Critics point out that roads in the UK are already subject to the tightest surveillance in the world.

Police control a database that receives information from automatic number plate recognition cameras and can track the journeys of up to ten million drivers a day.

Although the details can be stored for up to five years, ministers have been told that recognition and speed camera technology is 'inherently limited'.

Simon Davies, of Privacy International, a watchdog, said: 'If you correlate car tracking data with mobile phone data, which can also track people, there is the potential for an almost infallible surveillance system.' continues here

Now we need ID cards for a trip to the Isle of Wight

Passengers on ferries to the Isle of Wight and Scottish islands such as Mull and Skye will soon have to carry identity papers to comply with new police anti-terror powers.

And travellers flying between British cities or to Northern Ireland face having their personal data logged when booking tickets and checking in.

Until now ferry passengers on most routes in Britain have not been required to produce ID and internal flight passengers only face random police checks.

But under new Government security rules that will come into force next year, personal data, including name, date of birth and home address, will be typed into a computer record for the police by the booking clerk or travel agent.

Passengers will also face further ID checks when boarding their flight or ferry.

Under the new powers, police will be able to track the movements of around 60million domestic passengers a year.

The controversial measures were due to be introduced two years ago, but were dropped after protests from Ulster politicians, who said the plan would construct ‘internal borders’ in the UK.

But last week the Government used the release of its anti-terrorism strategy to quietly reintroduce them. Buried on Page 113 of the 174-page ‘CONTEST’ document was the announcement of ‘new police powers to collect advanced passenger data on some domestic air and sea journeys’.

Last night a Home Office spokesman confirmed the measures would ‘require passengers to show photo ID, such as a driving licence or the (proposed) Government ID cards, when booking tickets for domestic air and sea journeys’.

He added that ‘ferry journeys to the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Skye’ and ‘private jet passengers’ would be included in the new measures, due to be formally announced later this year.

The powers will be introduced using a so-called ‘statutory instrument’ signed off by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, without the need for a full debate in the House of Commons.

A 2006 Home Office report said: ‘This data will provide the police with invaluable intelligence, enabling them to track the movements of suspected criminal and terrorist passengers.’

However it acknowledged that the new rules would ‘impact upon carrier check-in transaction times’. continues here

Councils to be given power to snoop on calls and emails

Councils and public bodies are to be able to access all email, telephone and internet records, sparking new fears over the surveillance state.

Towns halls, along with police, security services and other public bodies will be able to view "communications" details of any one suspected of crime.

But critics fear the move will simply pave the way for authorities to spy on millions of citizens and taxpayers.

The power is contained in a new statutory order quietly laid before parliament yesterday.

If approved, it will come into effect from next month and cost the public more than £46 million to set up and run over the next eight years.

Bodies will not be allowed to see the content of communications but will have access to data such as who was called or texted and when or which websites were visited.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, accused the Government or transforming "understandable policies" in to "erroneous invasions" of people's lives.

"The multi-million pound cost of implementing this directive is bad enough, but what's worse is the fact that local authority busy-bodies will be able to monitor our comings and goings. The Government should stop using terrorism as an excuse to snoop on law-abiding families."

Since 2007, phone companies have had to retain data about calls for 12 months and hand it over to more than 650 public bodies.

Parliament approved the powers, described as a vital tool against terrorism, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

But under the latest order that is to be extended to all communications, including the internet.

It is implementing the controversial EU Directive 2006/24/EC, on the retention of communications data, said records would only be available "to assist in the investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime''.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "It is the Government's priority to protect public safety and national security. That is why we are completing the implementation of this directive, which will bring the UK in line with our European counter parts. 

"Communications data is the what, where and when of the communication and plays a vital part in a wide range of criminal investigations, and prevention of terrorists attacks as well as contributing to public safety more generally. Without communications data resolving crimes such as the Rhys Jones murder would be very difficult if not impossible.  continues here