London, United Kingdom - Almost a decade ago, the head of the
UK's privacy watchdog voiced concerns about how advances in
technology coupled with greater powers vested in the police,
security services and other authorities to tackle issues such as
terrorism and immigration risked undermining the liberties of
British citizens.  "My anxiety is that we don't sleepwalk into a
surveillance society where much more information is collected
about people, accessible to far more people shared across many
more boundaries, than British society would feel comfortable
with," Richard Thomas, the then-information commissioner, told
the Times newspaper in 2004.  Following revelations by Edward
Snowden, the US whistleblower, about the volume of internet and
telephone data being secretly compiled about them by state
intelligence services, and shocking allegations about the
activities of undercover police officers, even the least
paranoid of Britons could now be forgiven for adopting the
restless fidgeting and sideways glances o