UK: 1 in 78 Britons came under state surveillance last year.

Big Brother is alive and well, compadres...

From the Daily Mail. 

Britain's extraordinary march towards a surveillance state is revealed today by shocking new figures.  They show that one request is made every minute for officials to spy on someone's phone records or email accounts.  The number of Big Brother snooping missions by police, town halls and other public bodies has soared by 44 per cent in two years.

Last year there were 504,073 new cases - an average of 1,381 a day. It is the equivalent of one adult in 78 coming under state-sanctioned surveillance. The snoopers are using a law originally aimed at terror suspects. But their targets include people suspected of storing petrol without a licence and bringing a dog into the country without quarantining it.

Everybody's doing it...

A total of 653 state bodies, including 474 local councils, are allowed to use its surveillance powers.  ...<snip>... Other bodies authorised to carry out surveillance include the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service, fire authorities and prison governors.

They are not allowed to find out the content of phone calls and emails, but can access details of when and to whom they were made or sent.  People who are found to have done no wrong have no right to know they were snooped on.

And the Home Office is asking for expanded powers!

Despite the huge number of requests, the Home Office says there is a need to go further than giving public bodies access to phone and internet records.  Under plans unveiled earlier this year, the police and security services would gain access to the public's every internet click and phone call.

This would include, for the first time, monitoring the use of social networking sites such as Facebook. Every internet and phone company would have to allocate an ID to each customer.  They would then have to store details of calls, text messages and internet sites for a minimum of 12 months. The actual content of calls and emails would not be kept.

As well as phone and email checks, councils and other public bodies have been using actual covert surveillance, though undecover agents or hidden cameras.

Speaking of the UK.  You'll also be happy to know that 'poor students will be given a two-grade head start at University.  (Insane.)

Kenton Lewis, head of widening participation at St George's, said: 'Treating everyone the same way is not appropriate and not equitable. It is far more important to consider the context in which someone has achieved their qualifications.