Report of the Independent Surveillance Review
35
how data is collected, used and shared; in public understanding of the parameters of the
debate; and in how concerned different people are by threats to their personal privacy.
These concerns are also specific to each situation – people do not tend to simply make
a general ‘trade-off’ between privacy and security – and opinions can change depending
on different data use, data users and data purposes.
2.23
Polling also shows that, while people may be concerned in general terms, data-privacy
issues are not at the forefront of their thoughts, and their behaviour may not reflect
stated levels of concern. Indeed, Ipsos MORI notes that ‘stated concern about data
privacy and how people actually behave are barely nodding acquaintances’.20
2.24
There is reason to suspect that the British public are most concerned by data collection
and use by the private sector. According to the 2014 UK TRUSTe Privacy Index, 20 per
cent of those who said they were concerned by online privacy said that this was caused
by reports of government surveillance; 60 per cent were concerned as a result of
businesses sharing personal information with other companies.21 While about one in
five adults (19 per cent) in the UK feel that consumer experiences are being enhanced
by big companies gathering large amounts of their personal data for internal use, almost
half (46 per cent) feel that consumers are being harmed.22
Security
2.25
In the 2010 National Security Strategy, the first such comprehensive strategy in the UK,
the government noted that ‘The security of our nation is the first duty of government. It
is the foundation of our freedom and our prosperity’.23 Implicit in this statement is that
the ability of the public to exercise a number of their fundamental rights – including the
right to privacy, freedom of expression and individual security – is dependent on wellregulated forms of state or national security. Individual security and collective security
are therefore closely linked, and in order to enjoy our rights and freedoms there is a
public expectation that government, through its law-enforcement agencies and SIAs, will
ensure public safety and protect us from a range of different threats.
2.26
According to the 2010 National Security Strategy, Britain faces a complex range of
threats from a myriad of sources including terrorism, organised crime, cyber-attacks and
unconventional attacks using chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. The security of the
UK’s energy supplies depends on fossil fuels located in some of the most unstable parts
of the planet. Nuclear proliferation is a growing danger. British security is vulnerable to
the effects of climate change and its impact on food and water supply. These threats are
20. Ibid., p. 3.
21. TRUSTe, ‘TRUSTe Privacy Index’, 2014 UK Consumer Data Privacy Study, <https://www.
truste.com/resources/privacy-research/uk-consumer-confidence-index-2014/>.
22. Big Brother Watch, ‘UK Public Research – Online Privacy’, 2015, p. 3.
23. HM Government, A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy
(London: The Stationery Office, 2010), p. 9.