Big Brother is with us!

8.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 9th Dec 2007

Having lost the personal details of 25 million people, the Government is now sending out apologies.

For years the Government has been collecting more and more data about us. Did you know that in October this year details of land line land line and mobile telephone calls will be stored for a year? Next year they will include all emails!

All this data can be accessed by over 650 public bodies, including the police and council officers. The Home Office says that a senior police officer will have to approve requests for phone data.

Unfortunately, getting lost in the post needs no approval.

Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrat Winnie Smith says:"Should we trust the Government with our personal details? Even with all this information they still want more and are planning to spend £6 billion on setting up ID cards. I am sure we can find better ways of spending £6 billion. What do you think?"