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Monday 9 February 2009

Beware, Big Brother is watching your trips abroad: Government plans to store details of ordinary people's journeys into and out of UK

A ‘Big Brother’ database is being built by the Government to store details of millions of our international journeys for up to ten years.

The computer system, housed at a secret location on the outskirts of Manchester, will record names and dates of every movement in and out of the UK by air, sea or rail. Reservation and payment details, addresses and telephone numbers, names of travelling companions and even details of luggage carried will also be stored. Ministers insist the database, part of the Government’s ‘EBorders’ project, is vital to the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration and organised crime. But as details emerged yesterday, opponents warned that the spy system – which will track the 250million journeys in and out of the country each year – amounted to another building block in Britain’s growing surveillance society.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘The justification is always about security or personal protection. But the truth is that we have a Government that just can’t be trusted over these highly sensitive issues. We must not allow ourselves to become a Big Brother society.’ (Courtesy: Daily Mail)