Here’s an interesting claim:

A quarter of all major public sector databases [in the UK] are fundamentally flawed and almost certainly illegal.

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT) said a review of 42 major state databases had only found six which were acceptable in terms of their impact on individuals’ privacy. -Reuters

The UK’s over-emphasis on surveillance is common knowledge, but it’s important to realize that data is easy — maybe too easy to generate and that there are laws squeezing your records from the top and the bottom.