Now Cameras in London Don’t Just Watch, They Tell You What To Do
Posted in H.L. News, Main Blog (All Posts) on September 18th, 2006 11:22 am by HL
George Orwell, Call your office…Its official, 1984 is here, Ok so it showed up about 22 years late, but it has Arrived. Now not only are London streets being monitored by cameras, they actually yell at you and tell you if you are doing something terribly wrong, (like not walking your bike for example). They already have cameras monitoring the corner that I live on, I guess soon they will start yelling at me for spitting in the street.
Big Brother is shouting at you
London Daily Mail
Excerpt:
Big Brother is not only watching you – now he’s barking orders too. Britain’s first ‘talking’ CCTV cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly.
The system allows control room operators who spot any anti-social acts – from dropping litter to late-night brawls – to send out a verbal warning: ‘We are watching you’……
Law-abiding shopper Karen Margery, 40, was shocked to hear the speakers spring into action as she walked past them. Afterwards she said: ‘It’s quite scary to realise that your every move could be monitored – it really is like Big Brother. ‘But Middlesbrough does have a big problem with anti-social behaviour, so it is very reassuring.’
And if the city centre scheme proves a success, it will be extended into residential areas.
H.L.s Take:
And once it is a success in residential areas the cameras will then be moved into peoples houses, bedrooms, and toilets. Soon you won’t be able to take a dump without the Government watching. (At least they can warn people when they are out of toilet paper) As usual its all in the name of safety. Every time we lose more individual rights (rememeber freedom) they use safety as the reason. If they watch every little thing we do we will be safer right?? Like little babies we need our mommies to watch our every move. God forbid we lose our freedom due to the anti-social behaviour of bicyclists, and bar patrons. Interesting that this story in the Daily Mail did not once mention that someone might have a problem with this, they acted like it was the greatest concept ever concieved. Sad that the media is no so transparent in there never ending shilling for Big Government.
September 20th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Cool maybe they will catch some people doing bad deeds and have the video evidence to convict them. I am sure law abiding citizens like the idea that they will be better protected now.
Please please put some cameras in my neighborhood as well. Hopefully it will keep people from breaking the law. People who have nothing to hide and don’t do wrong have nothing to fear.
September 20th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
There you have it folks the Repubican mind at work. Incapable of nuanced thinking. Incapable of realizing that one thing leads to another. Incapable of realizing that next they will want to monitor your every move. Hey remember the term freedom, thats what Amercia is supposed to be all about. The freedom to do whatever the hell you want as as long as you don’t interfere with anyone elses life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. So what do you think Thomas Jefferson, or Ben Franklin would think of your comment. They would tell you to get the hell out America and go live somewhere like China, or the old Soviet Union, because you ain’t no American.
September 21st, 2006 at 12:38 pm
1984 conspiracy theories and whatnot aside, I’d say that some of your rhetoric sounds a lot like the “Republican Mind.” Bashing Big Government? Personal liberties maintained above the public interest? You could go to work for the NRA with words like those. Or maybe speak at CPAC next year.
It’s posts like this that make “liberal” bloggers look like looney toons. This is as inconsistent as the nonsense from conservative loudmouths. But hey, at least you can be loud.
September 21st, 2006 at 1:13 pm
HL I have asked you several times to tell me all about the freedoms you have supposedly lost.
You never have stated one thing that made any sense on the matter so enough said.
Guess you are just as free now as you were 10 years ago since you can’t site one example of how YOUR personal freedoms have been taken away.
September 21st, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Wow another one, Not a Republican Mind, So you don’t mind cameras on every street corner. Have you ever seen the movie 1984, (or read the book) how about THX 1138?? So your saying you wouldn’t mind living like that, because thats what its going to come to if we just keep letting them take away freedoms granted to us by the constitution. So is it OK if they put cameras in your house? how about in your bathroom? You know that terrorists might make a bomb in a bathroom so all bathrooms should have cameras in them that can be monitored by the Government. So they see you taking a dump, at least we are all safer right?? So is it Ok for the Government to go over all your financial records for no reason. Terrorists might have financial transactions that could be found if the government was allowed to go through everyones financial records. Hey if your not doing anything wrong, what have you got to be worried about. I guess its also Ok if the government can monitor everything that you do on your computer. We all know that terrorists use computers so lets let the Government have access to everything we do on the computer, If your not doing anything wrong why not. I hope you never checked out any porn on the internet because if you did the government will find out about it. They could report you to your job who might fire a pervert like you. But hey I’m sure your clean, you never did anything wrong in your life. Never went through a red light. Because we already have red light cameras. You know they might catch a Terrorist going through a red light on his way to a suicide bombing, so red light cameras are good. Now they are talking about monitoring everyones speed on the highways with cameras. But I’m sure you have never driven a car over 65 so what have you got to worry about?????
September 21st, 2006 at 7:44 pm
What individual freedoms have I lost.
Well for One George W. Bush could decide I am an enemy combatant and have me locked up for ever without trial. I may not feel free to fully speak my mind knowing this.
They could also put me on the no fly list. (and for all I know they may have being as I haven’t attempted to board a plane in over a year) Others who have written books who have criticized Bush have had this happen to them.
If I buy a plane ticket and can’t use it I can’t sell it to someone else because they check photo IDs on all flights now, Not to mention the fact that I can’t bring water on, and now have to check my bags instead of carryon where the airlines can feel free to lose my luggage.
While I personally have not lost any major freedoms, what? I’m supposed to wait until I do before I start to fight back???
September 21st, 2006 at 9:52 pm
I do wish we’d put those surveillance cameras to work. Then we could convict people like Dr. Philip Zack.
“Documents from the inquiry [FBI investigation] show that one unauthorized person who was observed entering the [Fort Detrick] lab building at night was Langford’s predecessor, Lt. Col. Philip Zack, who at the time no longer worked at Fort Detrick. A surveillance camera recorded Zack being let in at 8:40 p.m. on Jan. 23, 1992, apparently by Dr. Marian Rippy, a lab pathologist and close friend of Zack’s, according to a report filed by a security guard.”
This was the same lab where the Anthrax spores originated that were used to kill people after 911
September 21st, 2006 at 9:57 pm
I would rather have freedon than have this done for my own safety.
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:41 am
I like the last part where you said you hadn’t lost any freedoms. And even though I understand where you are coming from are you not doing the same thing the far right is doing?? By that I mean using fear tactics to scare people into believing that we are actually losing freedoms.
September 22nd, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Apparently I struck a nerve… That was a long response!
Seriously though — as long as people like you can’t figure out how to engage in a constructive conversation and insist straw man arguments to bash your critics, your positions aren’t going to be taken seriously.
I appreciate some of the issues that you raise on their face value — of course I don’t want a camera looking at me on the toilet. But is that really what I’m suggesting? My first post was just to point out the inconsistency in your rhetoric. (I won’t call it an argument — “argument” implies an attempt to make sense.)
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Apparently you struck a nerve. Yes you did, If I didn’t care about the subject matter I wouldn’t post it. So you agree with what I have to say yet you think that I cant be taken seriously. It seems to me that you are the one that cannot be taken seriously “not a republican mind” my ass
Just another Republican coming on here trying to pretend he is some kind of moderate. First you say you disagree with me, then you say to agree with me. But thanks for stoping by.
September 26th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
HL — if you care about this stuff so deeply, consider that your argument (or at least your passion) might be enough to communicate about them. The rapid decline into name-calling is precisely why you can’t be taken seriously.
Call me what you’d like, but at least still make an attempt to answer challenges against your ideas. It’s a weak person who thinks calling someone a “Republican” is enough to win an argument.