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London is watching you!

Posted in Privacy by Dan at 12:00 pm
closeThis post was published 3 years 1 month 27 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.

Every time I think surveillance in the US is bad, I see things like this. London has always been a city under video surveillance, but now these cameras talk.

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’.

Creepy!

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7 Responses to “London is watching you!”

  1. George Orwell says:

    Told you so

  2. Martin says:

    I personally don’t feel it’s an issue – they are not hidden or dissguised as the report suggests, that would defeat the object. it’s reported that we are captured on camera over 300 times a day – so? they area all public places..

    If you go into any mall, shop or the place of work I’ll think you’ll find just as many cameras as we have – if you’re not doing anything wrong or illegal what do you have to worry?

  3. Laz0r says:

    From 1984:

    “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard.”

    “There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”

    This is not something to be taken lightly

  4. Dick says:

    CCTV/security cameras are not an invasion of your privacy, if the camera is in a public place and not in your home! I can get irrate with people thinking it “destroys freedom of assembly and freedom of movement.” Knobber. It stops me from being mugged, pick-pocketed or randomly attacked by a drunken A-hole, or at worst it helps a big deal in catching the culprits.

    US TV thought it was amazing how fast the police were on top of the terrorists involved in the 7/7 London transport bombings. I huge factor and help in the investigation was from CCTV camera’s – how many video clips and stills of the terrorists and their activities did we see in the aftermath of that day?

    The government should be commended on having such a world leading scheme to protect the people of Britain. If some conspiracy theorists believe the resources are there to watch every camera at every moment of the day and they are watching every common Joes movements, then take another pill and get on with yer life, ‘cos, as I (and Martin) always say, if you’ve not done anything wrong then what have you got to worry about?

    “Protection from IRA terrorism…” Does the reporter know what year it is? CBS news did well to ‘Big Brother’ the situation up. The camera’s are not hidden, as Martin said.

    The same initiatives NEED to be carried out in the big cities in the USA too. People can be so paranoid.

  5. emory says:

    Lazor,
    my thoughts exactly. Reading that, it’s EXACTLY the same as 1984. I’ve read and re-read that book easily 50, 60 times, it’s one of my favorites. Hearing this just sends chills down my back.

  6. This video clip was digitized by someone in Spokane! Cool. -)

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