Richard Thomas, who said he raised concerns two years ago, spoke after research found people's actions were increasingly being monitored.
Researchers highlight "dataveillance", the use of credit card, mobile phone and loyalty card information, and CCTV. Monitoring of work rates, travel and telecommunications is also rising.
Surveillance society - full PDF report
There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people.
But surveillance ranges from US security agencies monitoring telecommunications traffic passing through Britain, to key stroke information used to gauge work rates and GPS information tracking company vehicles, the Report on the Surveillance Society says.
It predicts that by 2016 shoppers could be scanned as they enter stores, schools could bring in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat, and jobs may be refused to applicants who are seen as a health risk.
Other surveillance scenarios for 2016 include:
- Cars linked to global satellite navigation systems, which will provide the quickest route to avoid current congestion, automatically debit the mileage charge from bank accounts and allow police to monitor the speed of all cars and to track selected cars more closely.
- Employees being subject to biometric and psychometric tests combined with lifestyle profiles and diagnostic health tests, with jobs refused to those who are seen as a health risk or those who don't submit to the tests, and staff benefit packages drawn up depending upon any perceived future health problems that may affect an employee's productivity.
- Schools introducing card systems to allow parents to monitor what their children eat, their attendance, record of achievement and drug test results.
- Older people becoming more isolated as sensors and cameras in their home provide reassurance to their families who therefore need to pay fewer visits.
The terms Surveillance Society, Big Brother and even Big Mama are not new.
Big Brother hit general use after the release of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the essay section of his novel 1985, Anthony Burgess states that Orwell got the idea for Big Brother from advertising hoardings current during WWII for educational correspondence courses run by a company called Bennett's.
The original posters are claimed to have shown Bennett himself - a kindly looking old man offering guidance and support to would-be students, with the slogan "Let me be your father."
When Bennett died, his company was inherited by his son, whose rather aggressive-looking face appeared on the posters instead, accompanied by the unappealing slogan: "Let me be your big brother".
Looking back in the news, we see people warning for years of the "up and coming" Surveillance Society.
2001 - Wired.com
2002 - SFGate.com
2004 - TimeOnlineUK
2005 - BBC News
So, I can only question. Are we here? Or are we on the edge?
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