Series that 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, emails and every internet site we visit, to be logged and kept. The logic behind this is that we all benefit from better crime detection and from simpler 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 our journeys can be monitored and meets undercover agents, those who are watched and those who have fallen foul of modern surveillance.
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 - ex-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. He also delves into 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.
Richard Bilton speaks to leading figures from the shadowy world of secret intelligence to find out about modern surveillance and to see just how effective it is in 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. The programme explores how, increasingly, modern surveillance relies on computer databases watching and recording everyone, not just the criminals and terrorists. 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 it is an argument for total surveillance and a total security state.