Panopticism for the working class

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I understand that Britain is a de facto police state, but apparently the brilliant Mr. Balls (that doesn't get old, does it?) has decided to get rid of the artifice.

Somehow placing CCTV cameras in private homes to monitor compliance to social norms and right conduct seems a bit mm... nightmarish? Questions of legality aside, have we already reached the point where nonconformity to normative behavior warrants complete abnegation of privacy rights? Of course it was (and is) inevitable that improved satellite imagery, exponentially expanding data storage capacity, and the rapid proliferation of image-capture devices would (and will) lead to practically ubiquitous surveillance. Britain just got there first.

I would say that Labour richly deserves the bloodbath that awaits it in the next election, but then there's shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling of the Conservatives, who believes that the videoscreens are "too little, too late."