Brussels, 06/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - According to a human rights group based in London the United Kingdom has emerged as surveillance society number one in Europe. On 2 October the Privacy and Human Rights Report estimated that there are now over four million cameras in Britain, one for every 14 residents, a 300 percent increase in just three years. In a 1200 page report the group assesses the state of privacy protection in 37 countries using 13 criteria, including respect for privacy in the constitution; the use of security cards, biometric technologies and electronic surveillance systems; access by law enforcement agencies to personal intelligence and global leadership in promoting respect for privacy. Britain ranks as the worst western democracy at protecting individual privacy, at the level of countries that have “endemic surveillance” levels of security such as Russia, China, Malaysia and Singapore. The director of the organisation responsible for the report, Simon Davies, explained, “The aim of the study was not to humiliate the worst ranking nations, according to its foreword "but to demonstrate that it is possible to maintain a healthy respect for privacy within a secure and fully functional democracy". Germany comes out as the head of EU countries respecting the rights of its citizens. On a level of one to five, 3.9 turned out to be the average score but the United Kingdom only managed to obtain 1.5. Germany is followed by countries “offering "adequate safeguards against abuse”: Belgium, Austria and Greece. The report explains that citizens in nine EU countries are exposed to "systemic failure to uphold safeguards." These are Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Spain, Slovenia, Netherlands and Sweden. Other EU countries are considered as offering acceptable guarantees. (bc)