In his report, Thomas, who heads the Government's privacy watchdog, says that Britain has more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world.
"The combination of CCTV, biometrics, databases and tracking technologies can be seen as part of a much broader exploration, often funded with support from the US/UK 'war on terror', of the use of interconnected 'smart' systems to track movements and behaviours of millions of people in both time and space," the report says.
According to the Mirror, 'the average person is caught on camera 300 times a day -- that's once every 4.8 minutes -- by four million CCTV cameras. That's one for every 14 people.
'Facial recognition software automatically identify faces within crowds. Smart CCTV is used in train stations to ID patterns of behaviour that suggest a crime or suicide attempt is about to occur. But there is nothing to stop the technology being used to alert future governments to other groups of people of concern, such as protesters. And in March it was announced that unmanned "drone' spy planes are to be used in Scotland to tackle crime,' it said.
Listing other devices like number plate recognition, the Mirror report said: 'Britain has 6,000 speed cameras and 8,000 automatic number plate recognition devices which trigger a reaction when wanted, stolen or cloned number plates or uninsured cars are spotted. This year a further extension of car surveillance was proposed in parliament which would see drivers talking on mobile phones or failing to wear seatbelts caught on camera by the ANPR technology.'
'London's Met Police bought high-powered "eye in the sky" cameras capable of reading number plates from several thousand feet up in March,' it added. 'The devices will be fitted to helicopters to help track wanted and stolen vehicles as well as to snare speeding motorists. But the technology could also be used to track every mile you drive, helping government agencies keep tabs on your movements.'
The Mirror also said that the government is compiling 'a vast database containing a file on every man, woman and child' in the country. This would see a sharing of all state databases including the electoral roll, benefits records and information collected by the Driver And Vehicle Licensing Agency. They would allow anyone working for a public body to monitor everything from an individual's driving licence record to whether they had paid their council tax on time. Data-sharing powers would also allow the electoral roll to be used to police the ID card database - allowing residents to be fined up to £2,500 for not registering their name or address.'
In another report, the Daily Telegraph quoted Thomas as saying that the concerns he voiced two years ago that "we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society" were turning out to be correct.
"Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us," he said. "Surveillance activities can be well-intentioned and bring benefits. "They may be necessary or desirable - for example to fight terrorism and serious crime, to improve entitlement and access to public and private services, and to improve health care. But unseen, uncontrolled or excessive surveillance can foster a climate of suspicion and undermine trust."
"As ever-more information is collected, shared and used, it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions which directly influence people's lives. "Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences - false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality, and breaches of security. I am keen to start a debate about where the lines should be drawn. What is acceptable and what is not?"
