Re: Listening for 'won't someone think of the children'....
"What next - monitoring all cars because terrorists used them to drive to cafes."
That's already done in the UK, just in case the terrorists have forgotten to pay their Vehicle Excise Duty or obtain car insurance.
"Monitoring all mobile phones and texts because terrorists used them too."
That's already done, they're just in the process of retrospectively legalizing it.
"How about fitting every member of society with a mandatory video camera and sound recorder with built in GPS, and track everything they see, do, speak and hear, and where they go."
I think that's what mobile phones are for.
"Worried about what they say behind closed doors - easy fit every room in the house with a mandatory government surveillance device - camera and mic's for all."
Again, mobile phones will cover that - as will any desktops or laptops lying about. New fangled smart televisions can do that too - although I suspect the spooks would prefer pwning phones.
Good luck to Privacy International, but I fear they are effectively a side-show that is allowed to continue because it makes the gov look tolerant of protest while making protest itself look pointless.
The thing that bothers me most is that the Government is legitimizing rebellion by treating citizens as chattel. In practical terms we are already at a point where law enforcement is so poor, oversight so weak and the laws so poorly thought out that it's easier, more profitable and in many cases less risky to ignore the laws of the land.
To sum it up in the words of a friend of mine "Being a law abiding citizen is a mugs game.".