A Russian journalist believes the level of surveillance
is worse in ‘Big Brother Britain’ than it was in Russia
during the Soviet era.
Irada Zeinalova, who is based in London, said she felt she was being
constantly spied on by security cameras.
She highlighted how in the UK the level of monitoring is such that
even rubbish bins have computer chips fitted so councils can check
what householders are throwing out.
‘Security has got absurd,’ she said. ‘I don’t
like that level of intrusion into my private life.
‘London is a Big Brother city. It is all watched by cameras.
Even in the days of the USSR you couldn’t imagine such a number
of cameras or observers. Your moves are even monitored by your bus
tickets. There are CCTV cameras on every building and computer chips
on the rubbish bins.
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‘They can tell a lot about your life by studying your rubbish
bin. All aspects of your life are plainly visible here.’
Mrs Zeinalova, 37, an award-winning correspondent in London for the
Kremlin-controlled Moscow TV station Channel One, accepted that some
Russian journalists in London face close monitoring by British counter-intelligence.
One, from the Vesti TV programme, ‘had a full-scale spying operation
on him. It’s a normal thing here’.
