There seem to be a lot of brits on this forum and I'm really curious as to 1) why the UK is so heavily surveilled and 2) Doesn't it bother people, don't people feel like it's impinging upon their civil liberties?

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/sci...haviorcameras/

I'm very curious about this entire topic. (I am in no way trying to be inflammatory)

1). Perhaps Blair (B.Liar) thinks that George Orwell's "1984" is an instruction manual.
2). Yes (so much so that I will never go back to live in the UK).

Nanny state + stealth taxation

We are much more closely monitored here - no need for expensive cameras when your neighbours are doing a better job for free.

Cameras in the streets ? when was the last time you were fined by one ? this forum is full with people who were caught by cameras on the road.

Yes it is, and yes it does. Unfortunately many people are totally apathetic about the issue. I am sure they will change their tune if they are falsely accused of something, by simply being in the street before a robbery.

dave

Yes, there are a few locations where you can get a ticket for speeding. But there aren't cameras on the buses and trams.

And although your neighbors may be aware of your comings and goings, as far as I know they aren't reporting this to anyone.

They are already planned for the swiss trains. No doubts, buses and trams will be next.
Don't you believe it. Just because you don't know that someone has made a complaint, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. When you get a letter from your landlord, he may cite a catalogue of complaints made by the old lady upstairs, to which you were blissfully unaware.
dave

If you are referring to buses & trams here in Switzerland then yes there are cameras on them. On some of the buses on the routes out here in the sticks the driver even has a nice little LCD screen where he watches the doors.

If you don't think that your neighbours are not reporting anything read this little article about an international incident that was happened when someone complained to the police of "unusual movement in the building". Rumour in Bern, where I was living at the time, was she saw someone smoking in the street in the middle of the night so they had to be up to no good.

Hopefully this isn't happening, my building is really cool and filled with either young childless couples or new families.

Anyhoo, I had a question and I was hoping someone could answer it. Why is their 1 camera for every 14 people in the UK. And yes, people watch us in Switzerland, your neighbors might be keeping a log of what you do. Someone might call the cops on you if you're outside smoking a cigarette. I dunno.

But this is not government sanctioned spying. Geez, I wasn't attacking the UK. I was just asking a question based upon the facts that I read in the news.

Was once accused of being a russian spy here in the 70's because my number plate on my car started RUS.(british plates) soon got rid of that car.

How do I know, The police arrived to arrest me,

Then of course in the 80's the fiche affair, where all the citizens had a secret file kept on them, I believe they had to employ more people just to keep up with my file input.

Must be a benefit to this land,at least the secret police will never be out of work.

I think their is a general erosion of civil liberties in the UK, it's creeping & it's insidious & worst of all most of the population don't care.

It's not just the UK. It's a world wide phenomena.

It's to keep the masses down,and everyone under control.

Article on the BBC today about householders getting CCTV for their houses.

Northern Ireland has historically been the test bed for orwellian security infra. If you need to know what's round the corner for the UK have a look at Belfast. Erosian of civil liberties began way before Blair. The widening of the social stratification increasing since 70's much like the USA has seen a parallel increase of a police state to monitor the disenfranchised. The USA also has this firmly in place, you only have to look at the growth of 'private estates' with barb wire around the perimeters in suburban neighbourhoods. This trend is happening in the UK and is on the increase sadly.

It reminds me of one of the threads featuring one of more characterful posters: HAT.

dave

With all due respect, what exactly are the people who complain about erosion of civil liberties actually worried about?
Do you think some shady government official is avidly watching you go to the shops/ walking the dog/ taking your kids to school and compiling a secret dossier on you?

I'd be perfectly happy if everything I did in public was monitored, because this would mean that every time my family, my friends or myself was subject to a crime, it would be caught on camera.

I'm really not trying to start an argument, I just don't understand why this bothers people. If a bunch of drunkern idiots were beating you up down a side street, wouldn't you like to think that someone is watching and calling for police help..?

There are other posts in the threads that have discussed this over the last few days.
dave

The closer we are watched by our government and others the more what is considered to be acceptable behavior declines.

I personally would rather address and attempt to solve the issues of why people are getting beat up in the street and actually try to lessen the problems of violence in our societies. Video monitoring people is not the answer. Companies are trying to implement software that analyses the surveillance for what can be considered "abnormal behavior"

What say you had a 'bout of some kinky rough sex and so where walking a little funny and the surveillence software decided you were walking as if you had a gun in your pants. How would you feel if all of the sudden you were surrounded by armed police men with guns, telling you to get on the ground?

"Hey, if everybody is watched all the time nobody can do anything wrong" is not the sort of attitude I think society should be taking.

I'm really not trying to start an argument, I just don't understand why this bothers people. If a bunch of drunkern idiots were beating you up down a side street, wouldn't you like to think that someone is watching and calling for police help..?[/quote]

I think i agree with jonny on this one a little. I see being assaulted a little bit more of an infringement on my liberty than being filmed umpteenth times a day. Can someone let me know what i can't do (that's legal) that i wouldn't have been able to do without the introduction of mass surviellance anyway? Think this is mostly whether to do whether you trust whether you govt. (i don't generally) to be responsible with information about you. But i can't say from experience that this has had any detimental affect on me or anyone i've spoken with.