UDA: La Video Sorveglianza The Video Surveillance In the United Kingdom

1. I.I.S.S. “Stenio” Termini Imerese Sezione ProfessionaleTecnico per la manutenzione e assistenza tecnica UDA: La Video Sorveglianza The Video Surveillance In the United Kingdom “Yesterday / Today” Docenti: G. Canciamilla A. Falzone Asse dei linguaggi e tecnologico Anno scolastico: 2013/2014 Classe: IVa B/p

2. Mass video surveillance in the United Kingdom Yesterday: The practise of mass surveillance in the United Kingdom dates back to wartimesignal intelligence and pioneering code breaking. In the post-war period, the Government Communications Headquartes was formed and participated in programs such ad the ECHELON collaboration of five English-speaking nations. This focused on interception of electronic communications, with substantial increases in surveillance capabilites over time. Today: the use of surveillance and mass surveillance in the UK is controlled by laws made in the UK parliament. In addition European Union data privacy laws applies in the UK law. The UK exhibits governance and safeguards as well as extensive use of mass surveillance. A series of media reports in 2013 revealed recent mass surveillance programs and techniques involving GCHQ.

3. Reports and Polls A YouGov poll published on 4 December 2006, indicated that 79% of those interviewed agreed that Britain has become a 'surveillance society’ (51% were unhappy with this).  In 2004 the Information Commissioner, discussing the proposedBritish national identity database gave a warning of this, stating, "My anxiety is that we don't sleepwalk into a surveillance society. On 6 February 2009 a report by the House of Lords Constitution Committee,  Surveillance: Citizens and the State, warned that increasing use of surveillance by the government and private companies was a serious threat to freedoms and constitutional rights, stating, "The expansion in the use of surveillance represents one of the most significant changes in the life of the nation since the end of the Second World War. Mass surveillance has the potential to erode privacy. As privacy is an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom, its erosion weakens the constitutional foundations on which democracy and good governance have traditionally been based in this country.

4. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Main article: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIP or RIPA) is an Act granting and regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation. The powers granted by RIPA can be invoked by government officials on the grounds of national security, for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime or serious crime, preventing disorder, protecting public safety or health, in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom, assessing or collecting any tax, duty, contribution or charge payable to a government department.

5. The 2000 Act received Royal Assent on 28 July 2000 and Commencement Orders bringing provisions within this Act into force were issued between 2002 and 2012. Where prior legislation exists, the 2000 Act works in conjunction with that legislation, in particular the Intelligence Services Act 1994, the Police Act 1997, and the Human Rights Act 1998. The Act has been amended several times, to both extend and restrict the powers granted.

6. Governance of UK Agencies • The Regulation of Investigatory the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to hear complaints about surveillance by public bodies. The Tribunal replaced the Interception of Communications Tribunal, the Security Service Tribunal, and the Intelligence Services Tribunal on 2 October 2000. Between 2000 and 2009 the Tribunal had upheld 4 out of the 956 complaints received.The Parliament of the United Kingdom appoints an Intelligence and Security Committee. The remit of the Committee includes oversight of intelligence and security activities and reports are made directly to Parliament. The UK also has an independent Intelligence Services Commissioner and Interception of Communications Commissioner, both of whom are former senior judges.

7. Reforms The Justice and Security Bill, which will be voted on by the UK Parliament in 2014, will include a range of reforms to the Intelligence and Security Committee such as: The nine members of the committee will still be nominated by the Prime Minister, but the House of Commons will be allowed to veto Downing Street's suggestions. At present, Parliament has no power to block such appointments. Agencies will be “required” to publish information unless they can obtain an permission from the Prime Minister’s and only then if handing over such details would compromise national security. Until now, the committee has only had the power to “request” information. To signify the panel’s new status, its name will change to the “Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament”.

8. CCTV networks The combination of CCTV and facial recognition could be considered a form of mass surveillance, but has not beenwidely used andhas been ineffective because of the low discriminating power of facialrecognition technology. This typeofsystemhas been trialled at airports to comparefaces withbiometric passports, but such anapplication is comparableto vast majority of CCTV cameras are not operated by the UK Government, but by private companies, especially to monitor the interiors of shops andbusinesses.

9. In 2005 the City of Westminster trialled microphones fitted next to CCTV cameras. Westminster council explained the microphones are part of an initiative to tackle urban noise and will not "be used to snoop", but comments from a council spokesman appear to imply they could capture an audio stream alongside the video stream, rather than simply reporting noise levels. The trials were discontinued in 2008 with no further plans for use. Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 creates a new regulation for, and instructs the Secretary of State to prepare a code of practice towards, closed-circuit television and automatic number plate recognition. The Home Office recently published a code of practice for the use of surveillance cameras by local and government authorities to help ensure it is "characterised as surveillance by consent, and such consent on the part of the community must be informed consent and not assumed by a system operator.

10. Il prodotto finale in power-point è stato coordinato e visionato dai docenti. Per la produzione sono stati consultati diversi siti web. Gli alunni divisi in gruppi hanno effettuato ricerche multimediali, reperito materiale cartaceo e non.