Good Screenings

Erasing David

Directed by David Bond, Co-Directer Melinda McDougall

• Sheffield Doc/Fest 2009
• CPH:Dox 2009
• SXSW Film Festival 2010

Synopsis

Filmmaker David Bond decides to find out how much of our personal information is floating around, by disappearing for a month and setting two of the world’s top private investigators the task of tracking him down, using only publicly available data.

Take part in the Protect Your Privacy Tour 2012

About the director

David Bond, Co-Directer Melinda McDougall

• "A brilliant new documentary.”
  - Henry Porter, The Guardian
• "A rousing and fascinating call to arms to protect our privacy."
  - The Independent, UK
• “A really terrific film”
  - Sundance Film Festival, USA
• “Reveals not only how easy it is to get private data on an individual, but also how paranoid an innocent man can become by having his privacy invaded” -- Spiked

• Official website
• Film guide to download

More Information

Just how much of our personal information is floating around in government and corporate databases?

Once the bastion of freedom and civil liberties, the UK is now one of the most advanced surveillance societies in the world - ranked third after Russia and China. The average UK adult is now registered on over 700 databases and is caught daily on one of the 4 million CCTV cameras located on nearly every street corner in the country. Increasingly monitored, citizens are being turned into suspects. But if you’ve got nothing to hide, surely there’s nothing to fear?

When DAVID BOND receives a letter informing him that his daughter Ivy is among 25 million residents whose details have been lost by the government’s Child Benefit Office, he begins a journey that will see him hounded across Europe.

David soon discovers some alarming truths about what the government and private companies already know about ordinary citizens. He meets people who have been caught in the crossfire of the database state and have had their lives shattered.

As his concern grows, he makes a life-changing decision. He will leave his pregnant wife and child behind and put himself under surveillance for thirty days. The UK’s top Private Investigators are hired to discover everything they can about him and his family – and track David down as he attempts to vanish. Is it still possible to live a private, anonymous life in the UK? Or do the state and private companies already know too much about ordinary people?

Forced to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and the loss of it, David’s disturbing journey leaves him with no doubt that although he has nothing to hide, he certainly has something to fear…

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