bloomberg.com — Almost 70 years after George Orwell created the all-seeing dictator Big Brother in the novel 1984, Britons are being watched as never before. About 4.2 million spy cameras film each citizen 300 times a day, and police have built the world's largest DNA database.
Dec 24, 2006 View in Crawl 4
eggzbDec 24, 2006
Brightside....U are being dugg down because you are blind to the crimes this government is committing against its own people.
jonforthewinDec 25, 2006
Try owning a gun to defend yourself from muggers.
chrisjjDec 25, 2006
Such nonsense about Britons giving up their freedom because they're not allowed to own guns. The number of homicides is way lower than the USA in all other Western countries, none of which allow their citizens to freely purchase guns. In my opinion, the Second Amendment (or at least its interpretation) is the one blot on an otherwise rock-solid Constitution. Guns have nothing to do with securing the liberty of the citizenry. Mutual respect, cultural diversity, trust, citizenship, equal opportunity, and societal awareness are all vital to a modern healthy and free progressive society.
mutatronDec 25, 2006
@hehe"So long as they are used responsibly..."And there's the rub: where's the guarantee that they're always going to be used responsibly? The power is now in place for anyone to use, _anyone_. People need to think long and hard before giving power to the state, because one day the state will be overtaken by the "bad guys", and all the power once used responsibly by the "good guys" will then be in their hands.
Closed AccountDec 25, 2006
It is coming to a city near you!!!!! RFID Cards required by all US citizens. WAKE UP PEOPLE <a class="user" href="http://news.com.com/National+ID+cards+on+the+way/2100-1028_3-5573414.html">http://news.com.com/National+ID+cards+on+the+way/2100-1028_3-5573414.html</a>We need to STOP THIS..........and we need to refuse to do it NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!!!!
chochazelDec 25, 2006
This comes down to the inherent balance between government power and the need for protection against crimes. This is at the heart of any civilized society and it seems simplistic to say that either extreme view is correct. It is incredibly naive to think that all government is necessary benevolent, but equally naive to think that the government is the source of all evil. Government will always need to have some degree of power to apprehend criminals, so clearly a line has to be drawn somewhere. If the authorities were denuded of all investigative powers there would be conspiracies of control from outside government e.g. organized crime etc. with authorities powerless to stop it. Not all government power is a threat.Likewise, if the government had unfettered control of all public surveillance, they could use it to their own selfish ends. Their are plenty of examples of power hungry, paranoid, corrupt people in positions of power. What if Nixon had used CCTV footage to track Woodward, Bernstein and ultimately Deep Throat?CCTV is problematic because it blurs the line between public and criminal. Everyone is under surveillance whether they are under suspicion or not. If it is to be used at all, no-one should be looking at public CCTV footage under ordinary circumstances (excepting private CCTV cameras on private property - I have no problems with CCTV in shops being monitored). They should be recording onto 24 hour or 48 hour loops, and if the police want access to the footage, they should have to apply for a warrant in which they demonstrate that a crime has been committed. I would be more comfortable with cameras used this way, because there is some degree of accountability whilst still providing a useful tool for investigators when a genuine crime has been committed. On top of this, cameras can and have been used to hold the authorities to account when they have abused their powers.
Closed AccountDec 25, 2006
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." -- William Pitt (1759-1806)kinda apt.
theliteraryjoDec 26, 2006
The point everyone is making, which if you've read the book you would know, is that cameras or (telescreens) is what makes "1984" possible. Without the means to watch the citizens constantly, Big Brother wouldn't have nearly the power that they do to control the people. It's just as much psychological control as it is physical (monitoring of their forced daily exercise for example). So in a sense, you are wrong; cameras ARE Big Brother, or at least a beginning to that very possibility and if people don't recognize that symptom, the disease will grow.
jihadforwhatDec 27, 2006
What could be more Orwellian and Big Brotherish than Sharia Law under radical, ultra orthodox, Islam?
Closed AccountDec 28, 2006
not sure who the "we" is here. But any place that has a strong embedded gun culture, and a legacy of gaining advantage, territory or power through the use of terror is more likely to be a perpetrator or terror rather than a victim fighting a warr on terror!