K

E S L L E S S O N P L A N

JUNE 2008

Surveillance Society
Language Function:

discussing issues, reading comprehension

Vocabulary/Topic:

surveillance society; civil rights, terrorism

Grammar Focus:

passive voice

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

focus on talking
activity 1.

In pairs, ask and answer the following questions.

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 peoples 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 ordinary
citizens 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?

www.english-4u.com - photocopiable

Surveillance Society

ADVANCED

focus on reading: comprehension

activity 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 ways
of limiting our privacy in the future?
3. What is the new British governments plan and why is it controversial?

Big Brother Society

May 2008

You might not realise it, but when you are

driving your car, having a relaxing stroll in
your the park, or buying groceries at your
local 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 difficult to sidestep
their intrusive gaze. British law
enforcement services snoop on citizens
using various Big Brother technniques, such
as special listening devices which can be
placed in lamp posts, street furniture and
offices. We are also under serveillance by
the chips in our own credit cards and
telecommunications traffic passing through
Britain is being monitored. Britain is slowly
but surely sleepwalking into a surveillance
society.
It is true, we do not live in a fully-fledged Big
Brother 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 the
Surveillance Society produced by
Surveillance Studies Network, by 2016
shoppers could be scanned as they enter

www.english-4u.com - photocopiable

stores, schools could bring in cards allowing

parents to monitor what their children eat,
and jobs may be refused to applicants who
are seen as a health risk.
We do not have to wait till 2016 to see what
the future holds for us. As part of the fight
against crime and terrorism, 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.
Internet service providers (ISPs) and
telecoms companies would hand over the
records to the Home Office. The information
would be held for at least 12 months and the
police and security services would be able to
access it if given permission from the courts.
The proposal is controversial not only due to
its consequences to our anonymity and
privacy but also because of a growing
concern about the ability of the Government
to manage a system holding billions of
records. The more data that is collected and
stored, the bigger the problem when the data
is misused, traded or stolen.
David Davis, Conservaive member of
Parliament, said, Given (ministers)
appalling record at maintaining the integrity
of databases holding peoples sensitive data,
this could well be more of a threat to our
security, that a support.

Surveillance Society

ADVANCED

focus on talking
activity 3. Would you support or protest against these solutions? Present your arguments.
shoppers being scanned as they enter stores
schools bringing in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat
employers requesting the results of genetic tests from job applicants
government holding records of citizens phonecalls and e-mails

focus on grammar: passive voice

activity 4. Here are examples of passive voice sentences taken from the article. Please rewrite


some other sentences from the article using passive voice.
driving your car, having a relaxing stroll in
your the park, or buying groceries at your
local supermarket, you are being watched.
There are up to 4.2m cameras in Britain credit cards and telecommunications traffic
passing through Britain is being monitored.
Britain is slowly but surely sleepwalking into

services snoop on citizens using various Big

Brother technniques, such as special
listening devices which can be placed in lamp
posts, street furniture and offices. We are also

Surveillance Studies Network, by 2016

shoppers could be scanned as they enter
stores, schools could bring in cards allowing

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 to
the Home Office.
...........................................................................................................................................
www.english-4u.com - photocopiable

Surveillance Society

ADVANCED

focus on vocabulary: surveillance

activity 5. Expain the meanings of these phrases.
1. to sidestep someones 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
.........................................................................................................................................

www.english-4u.com - photocopiable