Cover Story
mothers who have to be organised
and have a diary that works. I have
a very supportive husband as well
without whom this would not be
possible,” said 39-year-old
Chakrabarti.
Turning back to the day job, she
talks about the UK ‘sleepwalking
into a surveillance society’, a theme
she has talked about since 2004.
“This was quoted first by the
Information Commissioner Richard
Thomas, but the media has
attributed it to me. It is a strong
message because technology is
moving apace and ahead of our
ability to make informed decisions
about its benefits. Jut because
something is possible does not
necessarily mean that it is a good
thing which is why I get so angry
about surveillance when people
say: If you have done nothing
wrong, you have nothing to fear –
it is not a healthy slogan in a
mature democracy like this one.”
“We need balance between our
understanding of the technology Chakrabarti: sleepwalking into surveillance. CCTV, it is about proportionality.
and its benefits and misuses. We “We cannot She refers to the citizens taking Similarly RFID is not morally or
need to all participate in the simply local authorities to task over laws ethically bad. It has a purpose as
debate about the kind of society sleepwalk introduced to keep surveillance on far as stock control and
we want because at the moment into a terrorist suspects because the replenishment is concerned, but in
the technology is well ahead of the surveillance powers are being used to snoop of terms of checking up on people’s
necessary regulations to protect society” pet owners who let their dogs foul, behaviour we have to ask ‘did we
our human rights. When we have drop litter or even against parents all consent or sign up to this
had that debate, we can design who claim to be living in area in voluntarily?’
misuse out of and human rights order to get their children into “People and politicians argue
into the technology so that it serves better schools. that your local supermarket card
us.” The Regulation of Investigation has more data on you than you
Chakrabarti was referring to Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provides a have probably overtly volunteered
retail technology including CCTV, legal framework for surveillance for, but business is capable of losing
RF and RFID tagging. She and but according to Chakrabarti has data so the more informed we all
Liberty are not opposed to such proved to be a ‘snoopers charter’. are, the more pressure we can put
technologies per se, but wants a “The regulations were not upon them to encourage them to
debate around their possible intended for this which is why it has behave more ethically.”
abuses. caused such a sense of irritation. It Chakrabarti is concerned about
“There is a statistic about the is not proportionate to the threat police not taking business crime
number of CCTV cameras in the UK and cannot be justified no matter seriously because of the inevitable
compared to the rest of the world how much dog mess irritates response from the retail sector.
and this island being the most people.”. Liberty has seen, and is concerned
watched nation on the planet. This “It is therefore not a question of about, ‘informal law enforcement’ –
has been justified by the Jamie being for or against something like the building up and sharing of
Bulger case when the two boys
convicted of murdering him were
picked up on CCTV. We do need “THERE IS A STATISTIC ABOUT THE
protecting, but we also need
balance and privacy because we
NUMBER OF CCTV CAMERAS IN THE UK
want to protect our dignity – it is
COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD
all about proportionality.”
Chakrabarti, like many citizens
AND THIS ISLAND BEING THE MOST
believe there has been a backlash
to the creeping complacency and WATCHED NATION ON THE PLANET”
16 • RETAIL FRAUD
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44