The traffic cam works for Uncle Sam

If there’s one group that’s done well out of “9/11” is the collective security and intelligence services of the United States and Europe, who have been able to justify ever increasing demands for data collecting and sharing and the accompanying invasions of privacy in the name of fighting terror. You’re already fair game if you’re flying to (or even near) the US, or if you make an international bank payment, not to mention that on both sides of the Atlantic your internet and telephone traffic is monitored as well. But now it seems that even car journeys will be monitored by the CIA, as it seems that enforcement agencies in the US and elsewhere have access to British traffic camera data:

The certificate specifically sets out the level of data that can be sent to enforcement authorities outside the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) by anti-terrorist officers from the Metropolitan Police. It says:

“The certificate relates to the processing of the images taken by the camera, personal data derived from the images, including vehicle registration mark, date, time and camera location.”

A spokesman for Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, confirmed that the certificate had been worded so that the images of private cars, as well as registration numbers, could be sent outside to countries such as the USA.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police have been given the right to view in “real time” any CCTV images from cameras that are meant to be enforcing the congestion charge.

Sources said that officers would access the cameras on behalf of overseas authorities if they were informed about a terrorism threat in the UK or elsewhere. They would then share the images, which can be held for five years before being destroyed, if necessary.

I can’t imagine anything useful will ever come out of this or what the reasoning behind this granting of access is, other than doing it just because it’s possible. Even having local police have access to traffic camera data is questionable, as unless they have a pretty good idea who they’re looking, it isn’t going to help them catch terrorists or other bad guys, except by accident.