A new television documentary series: Who's Watching You ? begins on Monday, 25 May, 2009 at 2100 BST on BBC Two.
According to the BBC web pages:
* Episode 1: Surveillance society?
Richard Bilton meets people who watch us and those who have fallen foul of modern surveillance
A new three part series looks at why the UK has become one of the most watched places in the world - with millions of CCTV cameras, a growing network of number plate recognition cameras, one of the largest DNA databases in the world and government plans for the basic details of all our phone calls e-mails, and every internet site we visit to be logged and kept.
We all benefit from better crime detection and from easier and cheaper services. The government argues that: "If you've got nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to fear."
Richard Bilton explores the hidden world of surveillance.
He goes inside the CCTV nerve centre, sees how all of our journeys can be monitored, and meets undercover agents, those who are watched and those who have fallen foul of modern surveillance.
Who's Watching You? explores why increasingly we are all being watched and why some think we have already become a surveillance society.
Monday, 8 June, 2009, BBC Two, 2100 BST
* Episode 2: The business of surveillance
Richard Bilton delves into the world of those who have made our private lives their business including former soldiers, corporate spies, hackers and blaggers.
From watching our neighbours, to being watched at work, online and on the move, surveillance is everywhere.
Information about every bit of our lives is valuable to somebody.
Richard Bilton meets those who have made our private lives their business including former soldiers watching suspected workplace thieves, corporate spooks trawling companies' rubbish for lucrative secrets, suppliers in the booming trade in tracking devices, secret cameras and hidden microphones.
And Who's Watching You? delves in to the criminal underworld of hackers and blaggers who steal and sell our information.
Surveillance can benefit us all, helping make businesses more profitable and the services we use more convenient. But, as Richard discovers, surveillance has a darker side too.
Monday, 1 June, 2009, BBC Two, 2100 BST
* Episode 3: The intelligence race
Richard Bilton speaks to leading figures from the shadowy world of secret intelligence and see how effective it is tackling serious crime and terrorism
Intelligence insiders reveal the difficult task they face with an ever-evolving threat and a constant arms race between the state and criminals over surveillance technology.
Richard Bilton talks to former insiders who question the government's argument that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, and who say that is an argument for total surveillance and a total security state.
Monday, 8 June, 2009 BBC Two, 2100 BST
We have been involved peripherally with some of the people doing background research for this series, and will be watching it with interest.
Source: http://www.spyblog.org.uk/
