Telegraph – Council staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team backed down and agreed to switch off the surveillance camera while they were in bed together.
The case is highlighted in a new dossier of human rights abuses carried out against vulnerable and elderly adults in nursing homes and hospitals across Britain. It comes just days after the Government admitted town halls have gone too far in using anti-terror laws to snoop on members of the public. Recent figures show three-quarters of local authorities have used powers granted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to spy on residents suspected of putting their bins out on the wrong day, allowing pet dogs to foul the pavement or breaking school catchment area rules.
The study states: “A learning disabled couple were living in a residential assessment centre so their parenting skills could be assessed by the local social services department. “CCTV cameras were installed, including in their bedroom. Social workers explained that the cameras were there to observe them performing their parental duties and for the protection of their baby.
“The couple were especially distressed by the use of the CCTV cameras in their bedroom during the night. “With the help of a visiting neighbour, the couple successfully invoked their right to respect for private life. “They explained that they did not want their intimacy to be monitored and that, besides, the baby slept in a separate nursery. “As a result, the social services team agreed to switch off the cameras during the night so that the couple could enjoy their evenings together in privacy.”
I can’t see why anybody would have a problem with this, it’s for the good of the children!
Big Brother is watching you … and he’s a PERV.
Dear English friends,
You’ve officially lost any right to ever complain about the workings of the US government, but we hope you sort out your Orwellian nightmare. If there’s anything we can do, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Your American friends
Learning disabled couple?
Who wants to watch retards having sex? Those crazy brits.
what #2 said.
Seriously, you Brits are real pussies when it comes to invasions of personal privacy. We Americans are much better at being under the microscope as long as it isn’t a direct viewing presence.
This is what happens after living through years of terrorist attack (IRA) and patriot act like laws. Who would have thought the slippery slope argument was valid?
“As a result, the social services team agreed to switch off the cameras during the night so that the couple could enjoy their evenings together in privacy….“.
Yeah. Right.
I agree with McCullough and these British Overlords. If something is against the law it only follows that all means available should be used to stamp the illegal behavior out of existence. Otherwise, why make it “illegal?” Can’t make something illegal and then not enforce the law, that would be like actually CONDONING the behavior–just the opposite of what is actually wanted.
What is a little embarrassment now and then compared to making sure your little kiddie is properly raised? Any good parent would comply happily.
I’m with MM on this one…
Nothing some needle nose pliers couldn’t take care of.
But it’s to make us safe! They are trying to kill us!
#1 & #2 – George Orwell was a British citizen (real name Eric Blair – no relation to the -infamous- Tony 😉 exPM. so Both Big Brother and Orwellian nightmares were invented here.
We Brits have always taken administrivia to extremes and GOLD-PLATED it whether we originated it or it came from Europe, usually multiplying it exponentially.
There is a long history of inbreeding amongst our heads of state (10 centuries) and cock-up when we get rid of one head of state (Charles I) who thought he had a divine right to rule absolutely, executed 1649 after 2 civil wars 1642-46, 1648-49, we then have a 3rd civil war 1649-51 squabbling as to how to decide the next head of state, the re-emergent strongman Cromwell then dies 5 years later, his son lets chaos run and after 2 years the first surviving son (Charles 2nd) of the previous monarch is invited back to be monarch in 1660 with some conditions, another revolution when he dies and we kick out the 2nd son (James 2nd, a roman catholic) after 3 years of his rule, when he fathers a male catholic heir, replace him with not his infant son but his adult Protestant daughter Mary 2nd and her husband William 3rd (William of Orange – also James 2nd’s nephew). For several years he went bashing the French – Louis-14th. Her sister Anne then succeeds after they have both died. The line dies out with her. We invite her 2nd cousin, one George 1st who never spoke a word of English (he was German) his Grandson’s administration then manages to lose the American Colonies to YOU LOT on the eastern side of the Atlantic pond.
#5 The Irish 20th century problems have their roots in the 17th century after Cromwell went bashing both the Irish and the Scot.
Oh what a busy set of screw-ups the Brits have been over the centuries.
When we are all supposed to be compulsorily registered to vote from the October in the year before we reach our eighteenth birthday, more than half of us cannot even be bothered to vote to get rid of a bad administration to probably replace it with one that could be even more incompetent.
About the only constitutional lesson we have learned correctly is to have a minimum 3 full weeks (maximum 6) to have a General election without a 4 year timetable that ensures that you have a two year long General election campaign. Our General elections have to be held at least every 5 years and can be called on a whim by the elected Prime Minister (who by the way is not the head of state).
#7 – you need money to enforce all the laws that have been made.
FYI – I speak as British Citizen who has never travelled on a British Passport but as I was born in Australia have a passport from there and a passport from NZ where my father was born – the First country to give the vote to women.
Sorry RANT MODE is now OFF
Have the couple been Dutch they would have sex in front of the camera.
“Bzzt. THX-1138, you are using an unapproved position.”
You know, all those dystopian sci-fi movies and novels were supposed to be warnings against an unpleasant future; not an action plan for the next century.
#13 – You know, you’re right. You should leave the country now while you can.
Really. Go.