Living Under the Digital Eye: How a dual citizen of Greece and the United Kingdom (the "UK") can resist becoming a biometric data source

-- By ValeriaVouterakou - 02 Dec 2024

As a dual citizen of Greece and the UK, I have often been perplexed by the surveillance landscape in these two societies. I spent much of my life in Greece, where surveillance was rarely a topic of public discourse. After a decade in the UK, I experienced hyper-surveillance firsthand and noticed that British society openly discussed this issue, aware of its looming presence. This paper explores the hidden ways biometric surveillance operates and outlines practical strategies for resisting the transformation of individuals into data commodities.

The hyper-surveilled UK

It is no surprise that surveillance is a major concern in the UK, which has an estimated 6 million CCTV cameras, meaning the average Londoner is caught on camera over 300 times per day (n1). The Metropolitan Police conducts AI-driven real-time facial recognition trials in heavily trafficked areas. This means that merely walking through Piccadilly Circus results in being unknowingly scanned and compared against police watchlists. The UK National DNA Database holds over 5 million profiles. If a citizen is arrested for a minor protest with no further consequences, their DNA remains in the database indefinitely. Fingerprint and DNA retention policies mean biometric samples are not deleted, unless requested.

The illusion of less surveillance in Greece

In contrast, Greece has significantly fewer CCTV cameras, and biometric tracking is rarely a public concern. However, a lack of visible surveillance does not equate to true privacy. The Greek government is rolling out mandatory biometric ID cards requiring fingerprints stored in a centralized EU database. Greece is also part of Eurodac, initially established to track asylum seekers but now collecting broader data. Under the Schengen Information System, biometric records are shared across EU law enforcement agencies, meaning that unbeknownst to Greek citizens, their data could be used beyond their original purpose. This also means that every time a Greek citizen applies for a visa or crosses the EU border her data is checked against various biometric databases.

The art of unnoticed surveillance

Consider a 30-year-old journalist in London. She wakes up, asks Alexa about the weather, and her voice command is processed for consumer profiling. She taps her contactless card at the Tube, her journey logged by TFL. At work, Microsoft Teams tracks her screen activity. Apple Pay logs her lunch purchases while the café’s WIFI collects her device data. At home, social media algorithms track her searches and location history for ad targeting. Before bed, her fitness tracker stores her heart rate and sleep cycle, with anonymized health data potentially sold to insurers and researchers.

Digitals platforms are becoming increasingly sophisticated in tracking user activity, often in ways people do not fully grasp. AI-powered facial recognition technology, for example, can recognise people in untagged photos with most users unaware of this function and the option to opt-out from it. This technology has implications beyond social media platforms. In the UK, it could enable law enforcement to build databases of protesters, raising concerns about surveillance and civil liberties. Meanwhile, in the commercial world, biometric tracking is shaping consumer behaviour. Retail spaces and transport hubs use facial recognition to track movements and process reactions and behaviours to predict shopping patterns.

As Greece is slowly transitioning into cashless transactions, digital tracking is intensifying. A simple contactless payment in an Athenian market, when assessed with other data points, can build a highly granular behavioural profile. Yet, most Greeks remain blissfully unaware of how their digital footprint is harvested, analysed and monetised, leaving them exposed to an increasingly surveilled world.

A Guide to Digital Anonymity

Despite the grim picture, reducing one’s digital footprint is possible. Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, individuals can request the deletion of their DNA and fingerprints if they have no criminal record. In 2020, the English courts ruled that South Wales Police’s automated facial recognition technology was unlawful (n2). Infrared-blocking glasses and accessories that distort AI-based facial recognition can help avoid tracking in heavily surveilled areas. De-Googled phones, disabling WIFI and Bluetooth in public, and using burner SIM cards for EU travel can further enhance privacy.

The General Data Protection Regulation grants individuals the right to request access to and deletion of biometric data. Greek citizens should leverage this right and delay adopting biometric ID cards. Residents of both Greece and the UK should use encrypted messaging apps and opt out of data collection. VPNs and Tor Browser can help prevent ISP tracking. Using burner emails and block trackers enhances anonymity while turning off location services, avoiding smart assistants like Alexa and Siri, and opting for cash transactions provide additional privacy measures.

Reality check

The practical steps listed above while justifiable, ultimately fall short. We are too far down the rabbit hole of surveillance, too deeply entangled in systems that know us better than we know ourselves. True anonymity demands individual sacrifice. It is microwaving your passport chip and facing interrogation at the airport. It is refusing a bank account and surviving without credit, navigating a world designed for the tracked. It is turning down jobs that require biometric logins, losing opportunities because you will not comply. It is never booking a flight in your own name again, choosing gruelling bus rides over the ease of air travel. And even then, you are left wondering if this is enough, if the cameras, the algorithms and the data points have already mapped you out beyond escape. This slow erosion of convenience and weight of constant suspicion is the price someone has to pay in the name of true anonymity. Because in a world where surveillance is seamless, where data is currency, choosing to remain unseen is not just difficult, it is an act of defiance.

Endnotes:

N1 - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/lens/surveillance-camera-photography.html

N2- https://www.hunton.com/privacy-and-information-security-law/uk-court-of-appeal-finds-automated-facial-recognition-technology-unlawful-in-bridges-v-south-wales-police

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