The Electronic Police State

I came across this item on slashdot, pointing at a review of state surveillance rankings. The press release ranked the countries like this:

Here are the 52 states and their rankings:
1. China
2. North Korea
3. Belarus
4. Russia
5. United Kingdom: England & Wales
6. United States of America

But the slashdoters downloaded the raw data and analysed it like this:

1. China, with a score of 3.47
2. UK Englad/Wales, with a score of 3.18
3. US and Singapore tied for 3rd place, with a score of 3.12
5. France and Germany tied for 5th place, with a score of 3.06

And as for Israel and Russia — they are tied for 11th place, with a score of 2.82

But this is really just about what information is stored about citizens. What is really important is the oversight and control of who gets access to this.