Brits trade privacy for security with millions of surveillance cameras

Seacoastonline.com: Brits trade privacy for security with millions of surveillance cameras: "In a bunker beneath London's bustling Piccadilly Circus, guards monitoring a grid of closed-circuit televisions spot something unusual. A suspicious package has been left behind amid the crush of tourists.

Moments later, a Hare Krishna picks up the abandoned cooler, which is filled with religious documents _ not a bomb.

Civil libertarians warn of the damage to personal privacy. But polls show broad public acceptance, even if the cameras more often capture a couple in loving embrace than a terrorist about to wreak havoc.

Britain has more than 4 million closed-circuit security cameras, more than any other Western democracy. Police say the average Briton is on as many as 300 cameras every day, usually unaware. The density of surveillance is significantly higher than in any other Western democracy, says Jen Corlew, spokeswoman for Liberty, a London-based human rights group.

But nearly two years since the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings _ a case where video surveillance tapes were key to the investigation _ Britain is considering giving the government even more authority and equipment to snoop on people's lives."