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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 50.

CCTV cameras were initially developed as a means of security for banks. In Britain they first appeared in 1953 and by the 1960s, there were already a few cameras in major streets in London. Today, there are more than four million CCTV cameras across the country. That’s one camera for every fourteen people. The cameras are there to film dangerous or illegal behaviour. With new software, they can automatically recognize the faces of known offenders, and a new kind of CCTV in the Netherlands can detect angry voices and automatically warn the police of trouble. Some CCTV cameras can even interact with the people they are watching. But these cameras don’t just watch criminals; they watch all of us, almost all of the time.

The amount of surveillance in towns and cities across Britain is increasing because it is thought to deter crime. Some goods in shops now have RFID tags (radio frequency identification tags) attached to them. When you pick up one of these items, the RFID tag sends a radio message to a CCTV camera and the camera starts filming you. Shops say that this technology helps to catch shoplifters – but only by treating everybody as a potential criminal.

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Cameras and tags are not the only ways of monitoring our actions. Every time you make or receive a call on your mobile phone, the phone company knows the number of the phone you are calling and how long the call lasts. It is even possible to work out your exact location. The police often use this information when they’re investigating serious crimes.

Even when you are at home, you are not necessarily safe from surveillance. High-speed internet connections have made computers more vulnerable than ever before. When you use your computer to visit websites, you are probably sending and receiving ‘cookies’ without realizing it. Cookies transfer information from your computer to the website and, in theory, could record which websites you visit. Modern technology is making it easier and easier to stay in contact, but it is also making it nearly impossible for us to hide.

(Adapted from Aim High by Tim Falla and Paul A Davies)

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