I remember the first time a public camera got set up in my town. It was a huge controversy. Everyone seemed worried, upset, and wanting to fight public monitoring. I looked around the other day and realized every intersection has a camera on it—no one seems upset.
Our passports have chips in them. Soon most everything we buy will have chips in them so we can identify with a scanner what someone is wearing, throwing away, or possessing.
Have we collectively accepted Big Brother Monitoring? With RF chips, satellite images, monitored calls, FBI backdoor internet taps, and public cameras, does anyone doubt we have arrived (or will inevitably arrive) at the Orwellian Nightmare?
Here is the latest. Big Brother is shouting at you. Cameras are being actively monitored and people are shouting at the public. It is supposed to discourage anti-social behavior. It seems voyeuristic to me.
The article says...
quote:Most people are so ashamed and embarrassed at being caught they quickly slink off without further trouble.
I hate that wording..."slink." Further down it says,
quote: It's quite scary to realise that your every move could be monitored
I think I would feel "fear," "upset," and a "sinking sickness in my stomach." It seems this will be our future and technology and laws will whisk us down this path, and collectively we seem to accept this as unavoidable. What do you think?
[ September 18, 2006, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: lem ]
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Do I have any resistance in me? I don't know, let me get my ohmmeter.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
Even if the government isn't actively attempting to monitor and control us, a half the implementations mentioned above are helpful to capitalism. As such, in this country they are going to be a foregone conclusion in about a decade.
It isn't so much that all of this information wasn't available before, it's that it is becoming easily sharable and readily available to those with unsavory intents.
In the end, I'm not sure what I find more disconcerting: The fact the government knows where I am and who I've talked to, or the fact that Starbucks knows what I bought, where, and how much of it was left when I threw it away. At a location they also know.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
It is getting pretty freaky. Makes me consider moving to a less security-crazed country sometimes.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Traffic cameras aren't violating my civil rights and don't bother me.
Listening surveillance, phone taps, reading my email or reading my Instant Messages, and invading the privacy of my home, those are where I draw the line. Everything else mostly strikes me as an attempt to secure efficiency and safety, without any cost to personal freedom or civil liberties.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I do fear getting caught by the traffic cameras. That's why I always wear my Groucho glasses behind the wheel.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Must We Ask Questions All In Caps To Make Our Points Look Like Important Titles?
Sorry- I absolutely concur- we have lost our minds as a country when we start actively monitering eachother. I don't NEED a stupid reason to hide- I choose to be able to hide anything I want. What is the government's business? The middle won't hold if we keep on this way.
Edit: I point out that the shouting telescreens are going up in England, not here.
I suggest anyone read the author's note at the end of "Farenheit 451," in which Bradbury berates a society which suspends works like his, Orwell's and others' in a glass prism and refuses to READ THEM. You might as well burn all those books now, because every person who supported SHOUTING CAMERAS either didn't read 1984, or read it and completely disregarded it, and so, didn't really read it at all. Maybe you can read that book and disagree- but I don't see how you can't even have a reaction to it, some sort of memory of the caution in that story.
quote: The Mail on Sunday watched as a cyclist riding through a pedestrian area was ordered to stop.
'Would the young man on the bike please get off and walk as he is riding in a pedestrian area,' came the command.
The surprised youth stopped, and looked about. A look of horror spread across his face as he realised the voice was referring to him.
He dismounted and wheeled his bike through the crowded streets, as instructed.
Sickening. This is the beginning, not the end. How can this be acceptable? How can you look at this and not want to puke with rage at the gall? Just because you CAN DO IT, doesn't mean you should. Good God England.
The truly sick part of it is that the citizens are behind the thing- so claims the mayor.
[ September 18, 2006, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Orincoro ]
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I do fear getting caught by the traffic cameras. That's why I always wear my Groucho glasses behind the wheel.
Those traffic cameras stink, because they go by the license plate. So if you're borrowing your friends car and get caught by one of those things, they get the ticket. Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Hum. Supposing a policeman had walked up to the boy and kindly (or not so kindly) instructed him to "get off the bike, lad, this is a pedestrian area." Would anyone object to this? Why is a camera different?
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
quote:Must We Ask Questions All In Caps To Make Our Points Look Like Important Titles?
We don't. I just kinda thought that is how titles went. I looked around at some of my favorite news sites and lo-and-behold they don't all cap. I wasn't trying to make it seem important and I have edited it. Thanks for the point.
quote: Supposing a policeman had walked up to the boy and kindly (or not so kindly) instructed him to "get off the bike, lad, this is a pedestrian area." Would anyone object to this? Why is a camera different?
A policeman has a badge number and is identifiable. A camera is...there is no easy way to ascertain from the public if the camera operator is being inappropriate.
I don't mind traffic cameras, store cameras, or parking lot cameras. That article makes it clear that they intend to expand into the suburbs. Thank goodness this is not in the US yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if we get there.
quote: And if the city centre scheme proves a success, it will be extended into residential areas.
The anonymity of workers behind cameras tracking the population of anti-social behavior (that is not determined by public input), and the ability to track political and social affiliations both through the Internet and physically through cameras, is very scary in the wrong leader's hands.
Posted by Palliard (Member # 8109) on :
I wouldn't mind so much if it worked both ways, but I do notice that the people that want to monitor these cameras don't appreciate having their own picture snapped.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by lem:
quote:Must We Ask Questions All In Caps To Make Our Points Look Like Important Titles?
We don't. I just kinda thought that is how titles went. I looked around at some of my favorite news sites and lo-and-behold they don't all cap. I wasn't trying to make it seem important and I have edited it. Thanks for the point.
I was just ribbing, it looked a little strange is all
NOW CUT OUT THAT ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR YOU WITH THE THREE LETTERS IN YOUR NAME... YES! YOU THERE! BE ASHAMED!!
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
quote:Originally posted by andi330:
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I do fear getting caught by the traffic cameras. That's why I always wear my Groucho glasses behind the wheel.
Those traffic cameras stink, because they go by the license plate. So if you're borrowing your friends car and get caught by one of those things, they get the ticket.
There are sprays for license plates aka tags which greatly increase their glare, making them unphotographable, if that's a word. The sprays are illegal in some states, but I bet will become more popular as camera-based tickets become more common. I don't think you can tell if a tag has been sprayed by the naked eye, so even if they are illegal in your state prosecution seems unlikely.
Countermeasures, people! Whatever government springs on us, there are usually countermeasures that help the people foil government plots.
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