Britain’s talking spy cameras
p2pnet.net news:- Middlesbrough, a large town in North East England, has something other places in in the UK don’t have.’
Yet.
Middlesbrough boasts loudspeakers fitted to CCTV cameras so operators can, “bark commands at people committing anti-social behaviour,” says the South London Press.
Now home secretary John Reid plans to expand the use of ‘talking’ CCTV cameras across the country, says Press Association, and “Competitions are being held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the ‘voice’ of CCTV cameras, Mr Reid said,” according to ITV.
“By funding and supporting these local schemes, the Government is encouraging children to send this clear message to grown ups: act antisocially and you will face the shame of being publicly embarrassed.”
With kids already doing spycam voice-overs, will the next step be getting them to act as remote copyright spies like they do in Hong Kong?
Meanwhile, “Local communities are rightly fed up with littering and anti-social behaviour – they want to remind people about what is, and is not respectful behaviour,” says Reid in the PA story.
There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain, even though a Home Office report published four years ago concluded better street lighting was seven times more effective at cutting crime, says ITV.
The scheme has been criticised by opponents as ‘Big Brother gone mad’,” says PA, going on, “But Mr Reid insisted it was proven to work and the communities sharing nearly ã500,000 in grants to adapt cameras would feel the benefits.
” ‘The new funding for Talking CCTV is aimed at the small minority who think it is acceptable to litter our streets, vandalise our communities and damage our properties,’ he said.”
Also See:
South London Press – Reid denies ‘Big Brother’ CCTV plan, April 4, 2006
Press Association – Reid to expand ‘talking’ CCTV plan, April 4, 2006
ITV – Talking CCTV scheme expanded, April 4, 2006
remote copyright spies – Child copyright spies, January 20, 2006
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the end (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php | | And use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
