A new report, released by the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International, details alarming global trends in privacy protection and surveillance. The Privacy & Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries, assessing the state of surveillance and privacy protection.
The survey found surveillance "endemic" in nine countries - England, Wales, Malaysia, China, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.
Two key findings were the overall worsening of privacy protection across the world, reflecting an increase in surveillance and a declining performance o privacy safeguards. And anti-immigration and border control dominated the world agenda with countries moving swiftly to implement database, identity and fingerprinting systems, often without regard to the privacy implications for their own citizens.