A recent edition of BBC program “Who’s Watching You” has revealed that UK police forces, with the knowledge of the UK government, is building a national grid network of ANPR cameras.
ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras automatically read the number plate of passing cars and check with DVLA databases whether the vehicle is correctly registered, taxed and insured. Normally the cameras are used by police to stop offending drivers immediately.
However, the linkage of the police, council and other CCTV cameras into a nationwide network and central database means that authorities will now be able to track vehicles across cities and the whole country without anyone knowing. The database will link together sitings of a particular vehicle into a timestamped journey around the country. Since the system will automatically record all vehicles it will allow users of the database to retrospectively track any vehicle. Read More
