I AM becoming increasingly concerned about my loss of privacy in our high-tech surveillance society.

There are cameras seemingly everywhere - on every street corner, in every shop, on the motorways, industrial estates and even on council estates.

There are cameras in the cash points, recording where and how much money we take out and so on.

Let's take a typical day in Mr A. N. Other's much observed life.

He walks down the road to the bus stop where he is recorded by the all-seeing camera on a pole, then filmed again by a hidden camera in the bus stop and again on the bus.

He gets off the bus at the bus station, where he is recorded by another series of cameras.

He does some shopping in a department store, where he is filmed many times as he makes purchases with his credit card.

Both his credit and loyalty card record what he's bought and how much he has spent, which will be stored on his file so that he can be targeted with advertising later.

As he walks around the town, he calls his wife on his mobile phone, which triangulates his position and is a separate record of where he goes, to within a few yards. As he talks on the mobile he is filmed by a series of cameras dotted around the town.

It is a bit frightening to think that we could be under observation for much of our waking life. All these cameras have been introduced without any kind of consultation, supposedly for our own security. Who knows what the operators of these cameras are actually looking at?

The question is: Has the imposition of this undemocratic and unasked-for surveillance system actually seen a reduction in overall crime? Sadly, I think not.

The trouble is, we have all sat back and allowed this to happen without so much as a murmur and now I fear it has gone too far and it is too late to reverse the trend.

See you soon - on a screen near us both.

Jason Harvey Chorley Old Road Bolton