Spy state

Food for thought in Britain:

-there is one CCTV camera for every 14 people. On average, a citizen is caught on camera more than 300 times, or once every five minutes

-there are 5,000 speed cameras and 8,000 automatic plate recognition devices. London's Metropolitan police have introduced "eye in the sky" cameras attached to helicopters that can read numberplates on the ground.

-a mobile phone stores information, and in 2002 law enforcement made more than 400,000 requests for data from mobile network operators

-all UK Internet service providers must monitor the websites British users visit, and pass the information to MI5 under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill

-Loyalty Management UK, the private company that operates the Nectar loyalty card, has over 50% of the UK population holding one of their cards