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Britain: Trafalgar Square in London

March 26, 2015

No other European country keeps as close a watch on its citizens as the UK. For years, the government has been broadening its powers of surveillance in the name of security. A hot spot is Trafalgar Square in London.

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England Trafalgar Square in London
Image: DW

In other nations, its laws would long since have been considered breaches of privacy. But British intelligence services have easy access to citizens' communications data, whether telephone calls, emails, Facebook messages or other forms of communication. Where video surveillance on the streets is concerned, surveillance has a long tradition here. Since 1926, an unassuming structure that was once billed as the world's smallest police station has stood at the corner of London's Trafalgar Square - a traditional rallying point for demonstrators. For a time in the twentieth century, it even had a direct phone line to Scotland Yard.