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www.english-4u.com - photocopiable 1

discussing issues, reading comprehension

surveillance society; civil rights, terrorism

passive voice

E S L L E S S O N P L A N J U N E 2 0 0 8

S T U D E N T W O R K S H E E T A D V A N C E D

How important to you is your right to anonymity and privacy?

Do you find it difficult to keep your life private?

Do you believe that people’s actions are being increasingly monitored?

Do you mind your personal data stored for marketing purposes?

Britain spends more money on CCTV cameras than any other country in Europe. Do you

believe it is money well spent?

Do CCTV cameras make you feel safer?

Are CCTV cameras better at preventing or detecting crime?

Do you think your country becoming a Big Brother society - a society in which ordinarycitizens have no rights of privacy.

What could be negative consequences of living in a Big Brother society?

What safeguards against the abuse of surveillance would you recommend?

focus on talkingactivity 1. In pairs, ask and answer the following questions.

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Big Brother Society May 2008

You might not realise it, but when you aredriving your car, having a relaxing stroll in

your the park, or buying groceries at yourlocal supermarket, you are being watched.There are up to 4.2m cameras in Britain -about one for every 14 people, and it is

becoming more and more difcult to sidesteptheir intrusive gaze . British lawenforcement services snoop on citizens using various Big Brother technniques, suchas special listening devices which can beplaced in lamp posts, street furniture andofces. We are also under serveillance bythe chips in our own credit cards andtelecommunications trafc passing throughBritain is being monitored. Britain is slowly

but surely sleepwalking into a surveillancesociety .

It is true, we do not live in a fully-edged BigBrother society yet, but it is only a matter of

time before we are stripped of whatever privacy we enjoy now. Soon, it will be virtually impossible to live ‘off-grid ” According to the 2006 Report on theSurveillance Society produced bySurveillance Studies Network, by 2016shoppers could be scanned as they enter

stores, schools could bring in cards allowingparents to monitor what their children eat,and jobs may be refused to applicants whoare seen as a health risk.

We do not have to wait till 2016 to see whatthe future holds for us. As part of the ghtagainst crime and terrorism, the Britishgovernment is planning a massive databaseholding details of every phone call, e-mail andtime spent on the Internet by the public.Internet service providers (ISPs) andtelecoms companies would hand over therecords to the Home Ofce. The information

would be held for at least 12 months and thepolice and security services would be able toaccess it if given permission from the courts.

The proposal is controversial not only due toits consequences to our anonymity andprivacy but also because of a growingconcern about the ability of the Governmentto manage a system holding billions ofrecords. The more data that is collected andstored, the bigger the problem when the data is misused , traded or stolen.

David Davis, Conservaive member ofParliament, said, “Given (ministers’)appalling record at maintaining the integrityof databases holding people’s sensitive data ,this could well be more of a threat to oursecurity, that a support.

focus on reading: comprehensionactivity 2. Read the text to find answers to these questions:

1. Which survaillance methods mentioned in the article are being used now?

2. What, according to the Report on the Surveillance Society, could be waysof limiting our privacy in the future?

3. What is the new British government’s plan and why is it controversial?

Surveillance Society A D V A N C E D

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focus on talkingactivity 3. Would you support or protest against these solutions? Present your arguments.


activity 4. Here are examples of passive voice sentences taken from the article. Please rewritesome other sentences from the article using passive voice.

focus on grammar: passive voice

shoppers being scanned as they enter stores

schools bringing in cards allowing parents to monitor what their childr

employers requesting the results of genetic tests from job applicants

government holding records of citizens’ phonecalls and e-mails

you are being watched . can be placed

is being monitored . could be scanned

1. British law enforcement services snoop on their citizens............................................................................................................................................

2. Schools could bring in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat............................................................................................................................................

3. The British government is planning a massive database holding details of every phone call,e-mail and time spent on the Internet by the public............................................................................................................................................

4. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records tothe Home Office............................................................................................................................................

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focus on vocabulary: surveillance

activity 5. Expain the meanings of these phrases.

1. to sidestep someone’s intrusive gaze

.........................................................................................................................................

2. law enforcement services

.........................................................................................................................................

3. to snoop on someone

.........................................................................................................................................

4. to be under surveillance

.........................................................................................................................................

5. to sleepwalk into a surveillance society

.........................................................................................................................................

6. a fully-fledged Big Brother society

.........................................................................................................................................

7. to be stripped of privacy

.........................................................................................................................................

8. to live “off-grid”

.........................................................................................................................................

9. to misuse data

.........................................................................................................................................

10. sensitive data

.........................................................................................................................................

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