Last updated at 11:23 27 March 2007

Experts have called for a halt in the spread of CCTV cameras.

Britain is now being watched by a staggering 4.2million - one for every 14 people and a fifth of the cameras in the entire world.

The Royal Academy of Engineering also warned that lives could be put at risk by the lurch towards a 'big brother' society in which the Government and even supermarkets hold huge amounts of personal information on us.

It said any system was vulnerable to abuse - including bribery of staff and computer hackers gaining access.

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The Government's planned Children's Database, for example, which will contain the names and addresses of children considered vulnerable or 'at risk', could open the door for paedophiles to target them.

The academy said our identities, eating habits, health and vulnerability could all be compromised and abused.

This could include details being sold or leaked of whether a woman has had an abortion or a person's HIV status.

Supermarkets, which keep records of a shopper's purchases each week using

The use of face recognition technology would allow the authorities to pinpoint a person's exact localoyalty cards, could pass information about unhealthy eaters to the NHS or life insurance companies.

One of the report's authors, Professor Nigel Gilbert, said the number of CCTV cameras in Britain is so large that the installation of any more should be halted until the need for them is proven. The average Londoner may be monitored by up to 300 every day.

Britain relies on the cameras far more than other countries, accounting for 20 per cent of all such technology used across the world, despite having just one per cent of the globe's population.

Professor Gilbert said that, as digital technology improved, there would be no barrier to storing camera images indefinitely.

The use of face-recognition technology would allow the authorities to pinpoint a person's exact location at any given time.

The report added that the Government's plans for storing vast amounts of data on computer databases and microchips posed a huge risk to the public.

The NHS computer system to store patient records, which is currently costing billions to develop, could also jeopardise a person's lifestyle or employment prospects if information leaked out.

The report says examples could include DNA data showing that the presumed father of a child could not be.

The academy also said biometric data stored on radio frequency microchips on the Government's new passports - the technology which will be used for ID cards - could be 'eavesdropped'.

The microchips, which the Daily Mail has revealed can be read from a distance of several feet, could be hijacked by fraudsters - giving them access to names, addresses and other personal details - and even terrorists.

The report said that, in the future, extremists could construct a bomb which would be detonated only when a certain passport, or a passport of a particular nationality, was nearby.

The bomb would wait to be activated by information on the passport's electronic chip, which gives out a radio signal.

On supermarkets, the experts say there is no reason why firms such as Tesco or Sainsbury's need a person's name to issue them with a loyalty card.

The report says: "It is not entirely absurd to imagine that supermarkets' loyalty card data might one day be used by the Government to identify people who ignored advice to eat healthily or who drank too much, so that they could be given a lower priority for NHS treatment".

Professor Gilbert added: "We have supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also offering life insurance services.

"What will they be able to do in 20 years' time, knowing how many doughnuts we have bought?"

The document follows a recent study from the Government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, which warned that Britain was becoming a 'surveillance society'.

Commissioner Richard Thomas said excessive use of CCTV and other information-gathering was creating a climate of suspicion.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "This report sends a clear warning to public and private sectors with their insatiable appetite for our personal information.

"The desire for a little bit of privacy is part of being human and the nation's dignity should not be for sale. Smart politicians and businessmen take note."