CCTV spy cars, privacy and the right to be forgotten

To paraphrase Parkinson's Law, security measures will increase to fill the space allowed them.

In 2008, a minor furore erupted in the media when a borough council in Dorset admitted to spying for two and a half weeks on a family who, it thought, were cheating on a local school's admission system.

The parents were doing nothing illegal - 'playing the system' may not be totally honest, but it isn't a crime. Yet their movements were tracked using technologies and systems set up to trap terrorists and criminals.

Another side of the privacy debate came to light earlier this month when the European Court of Justice ruled that people have the 'right to be forgotten' by internet search engines.

Its ruling has forced Google, and by extension other search providers, to institute a process through which people can request the removal of specific personal references from their search results.

In the lead up to the Court's decision, the UK government announced its opposition to such a law, arguing that it offered people unrealistic expectations about online privacy and potentially limited freedom of expression.

Time will tell. What is already clear is that the ruling will lead search companies to introduce more intrusive advertising to cover the costs of dealing with the thousands of applications they will face.

The ruling may also mean that courts will be tied up with lawsuits, brought by complainants who don't feel they're being properly serviced.

At the same time, though, it will probably launch a much needed debate about what privacy means in the age of Big Data analysis, algorithms and cyber-bots. This is no bad thing.

A public debate is sorely needed on the vexed question of who actually owns the information stored on the internet. Is the individual concerned, the search company, or the wider society?

The European Court's finding certainly shows how badly we need a new branch of ethics to focus on issues relating to the Big Data revolution.

The explosion in the power of computers has given rise to Big Data predictive analysis, allowing governments – and corporations – to uncover patterns within the vast amount of data they collect, particularly from mobile devices like phones and CCTV units.

This predictive use of technology has advantages. For example, it can help government economists track shifts in markets and, perhaps, better prepare for possible downturns.