In response to the recent implications that America is the source of the
problem, I'll present this to counter that "we" are not as much to blame as
those who accept, blindly, the invasions across the ocean. "We" are not
quite so lethargic about invasions of our privacy, and resistance of a
"Police-State".
Mikus
>NO HIDING PLACE
>
>SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE -- But the LIBERTARIAN nerds, known in this
>field as "cypherpunks", fought back in the name of freedom from
>the all-seeing eyes of Big Brother government. In the United
>States they have had some success, thanks to the native distrust
>of government; in Britain they have had almost none.
>
>http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/04/15/magazine1.html
A few other bits from this (rather lengthy) bit of reading...
We seem to have such fear of crime, and such a mute acceptance of the
seizure of power by the authorities, that we are actually comforted by the
thought that we are being watched all the time. This, in the current climate
of paranoia and high technology, is dangerous. Our right to live a
law-abiding life without interference is now utterly compromised. The
Englishman's home is no longer his castle, it is his virtual interrogation
cell.
...
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are the final turn of the screw.
There are now 1.5m(million) of these operating in Britain, and some, as in
the London borough of Newham, use facial recognition software that
automatically identifies target individuals. Some of these cameras are
visible, but many, in pubs and clubs, are not. In time, it is thought these
cameras will be linked in a nationwide web. They will become, as Dr Stephen
Graham of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne has suggested, the "fifth
utility", after telephones, water, gas and electricity. "These networks," he
writes, "have long since merged and extended to become technologically
standardised, multipurpose, nationally regulated utilities, with virtually
universal coverage. I would argue that CCTV looks set to follow a similar
pattern of development over the next 20 years, to become a kind of fifth
utility."
"We have far more of these cameras that any other country," Graham tells me,
"though Germany and the US are now catching up. Why? Well, I suppose we have
fewer constitutional and political fears about invasions of privacy.
...
Soon, some have suggested, we shall have to record our entire lives on audio
and video just to establish an alibi, in case we are implicated in a crime.
Indeed, not to make such a recording may one day be treated as a cause for
suspicion.
Do we care? In Britain, apparently not. We accept CCTV cameras out of fear
of crime, and as a result we have more than any other nation in the
world...........
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