Warning on spread of state surveillance

Catholic New Times, March 8, 2005

Governments are building a "global registration and surveillance infrastructure" in the U.S.-led "war on terror," civil liberty groups warned in April.

The aim is to monitor the movements and activities of entire populations in what campaigners call "an unprecedented project of social control," the Guardian reports. The warning came from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, including the American Civil Liberties Union, and Statewatch, a U.K.-based bulletin that tracks developments in the EU.

They warned that National ID cards, characterized by digitized fingerprints, will become a "globally interoperable biometric passport." The setting up of airlines' passenger name records (PNRs) could include more than 60 different kinds of information, including meal choices which could reveal personal, religious or ethnic affiliations. In addition, the U.S. and EU governments plan to expand legal powers to eavesdrop and store intercepted personal communications, the groups charged.

They fear the increasing co-operation between national police, security, intelligence, and military establishments, without judicial oversight over law enforcement agents and public officials.

These initiatives are not effective in identifying terrorists, according to civil liberty groups.