Report of the Independent Surveillance Review
2.14
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It is important to bear in mind that even the collection of personal data – regardless of
the context in which it is collected – is considered an intrusion by some, not least because
once collected the data is vulnerable to misuse or loss.13 However, opinions are divided
as to how serious an intrusion into privacy each different stage of data acquisition,
filtering, retention and eventual human analysis is. Key questions remain unanswered
over the extent to which a citizen’s privacy is invaded. Aggregating data sets can create
an extremely accurate picture of an individual’s life, without having to know the content
of their communications, online browsing history or detailed shopping habits. ‘Given
enough raw data, today’s algorithms and powerful computers can reveal new insights
that would previously have remained hidden’.14 Some argue that to retain data at all,
even if it is never analysed or only analysed by a computer, would still be unacceptable;
others believe that until a human has physically examined the exact content of data
then there is no intrusion. This is a debate that the public must be a part of so that a
democratic consensus can be reached.
Why Privacy Matters
2.15
Privacy protects a set of deeply significant values that no society can do without; it is
about the lines, boundaries and relationships we draw between and among ourselves,
communities and institutions. Rather than an empty ideal or state, attitudes towards
privacy tell us much about those fundamental relationships; what people think and
expect of their neighbours, their fellow citizens and their government.15
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The most striking characteristic of public discussions on surveillance to date is the
perceived dichotomy between the rights or values of collective security and privacy.
A common and repeated assumption made by politicians, the media and the general
public is that these values are opposed, and that the issue is one of ‘national security’
versus ‘personal privacy’. The subsequent assumption is that a trade-off can be made
between the two: Is the right balance being struck between national security and civil
liberties, or between collective security on the one side and individual freedoms and
personal security on the other?
2.17
There is also a tendency to want both maximum security and privacy simultaneously.
Desires for one or the other change according to how they are defined and how they
apply to specific circumstances:
People do care about their privacy. They also care about security, but they define it in many
different ways. As has been discussed, privacy is a very complex concept with many facets,
13. Written evidence to the ISR from the Office of the Information Commissioner, Christopher
Graham.
14. The Economist, ‘Data, Data Everywhere’, 25 February 2010.
15. Charlie Edwards and Catherine Fieschi (eds), UK Confidential (London: Demos, 2008).