The U.S. has been labeled an endemic surveillance society along with the U.K., Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, China and Malaysia in a recent comprehensive survey of global privacy.

The 2007 International Privacy Rankings, a survey conducted by the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International, ranks the U.S. near the bottom finding that “in terms of statutory protections and privacy enforcement, the U.S. is the worst ranking country in the democratic world. In terms of overall privacy protection the United States has performed very poorly, being out-ranked by both India and the Philippines and falling into the black category, denoting endemic surveillance.”