Britain becoming a Big Brother society, says data watchdog – News.Independent.co.uk: The erosion of civil liberties continues to grow in Britain. When will the point of no return come?
Britain is in danger of “committing slow social suicide” as such Big Brother techniques as surveillance cameras and recording equipment spread into every aspect of our lives, the nation’s information watchdog will warn this week.
A new report will say that the public needs to be made more aware of the “creeping encroachment” on civil liberties created by email monitoring, CCTV and computer tracking of our buying habits.
It is understood that one of the concerns in the report is the use of special listening devices which can be placed in lamp posts, street furniture and offices. These are already widely used in the Netherlands to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.
More than 300 of the cameras with built-in microphones have been fitted in benefit offices and city centres. The equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of decibel level, pitch and speed at which words are spoken.
Civil liberty campaigners have already warned that Britain is becoming a Big Brother society where its citizens are increasingly being watched. There are more than four million CCTV cameras in this country, one for every 14 people, and the national DNA database which was set up by police to combat crime now holds 3.5 million profiles.
Isn’t it inevitable that when the government makes it a mission to prevent crime, that it will eventually start treating everybody as a potential criminal?
#1 – Yes.
That’s why liberals are more important now than ever before.
#2, funny, since it’s “liberals” who more often than not are the first to say “there ought to be a law…”
Maybe we should have a discussion of the relative merits and demerits of that controversial liberal legislation, The Patriot Act?
Let’s talk about all the liberal leadership at the CIA…. FBI…. NSA….?
Usually, there should be a law… Just not the draconian anti-privacy anti-freedom laws that the neocons, theocons, and many conservatives have pushed.
must have the cameras; got to catch the paedos!
#4, you make me laugh. The vast majority of laws are anti-freedom, in that they are intended to restrict the activities or behaviors of people. And you “liberals” are hardly immune from criticism here. Talk to me about your precious privacy next time you have to report every income deriving activity you engaged in when you file the return to comply with your Marxist tax code, or have to apply for a state license before somebody can legally pay you to cut their hair.
this all started for the most part because of britians “war on terror” when trying to deal with the ira. funny how the freedoms governments are suppose to be protecting are the first to get stepped on.
#2 – If you think the erosion of civil liberties is a liberal/conservative issue then you’ve lost it. Organized government as a whole is the enemy, not just one side of it.
#6 – Marxist tax code!?!?!?!?!?!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha
I knew when I posted in #2 that something funny would get typed… But you really exceeded my expectations with that one. 🙂
#9, don’t try to sugarcoat the truth, embrace it…
From the “Manifest of the Communist Party”
“The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie…
Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property…
These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.
Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.
…
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. “
Privacy is a myth. Embrace the vision of 24 hour surveillance. It’s TV all day all the time!!
The next “Hitler” would be unstoppable with modern technology in terms of surveillance. Giving the government that much power is just asking for problems. It has been known for some time that England has turned into an Orwellian shit hole.
#12 – AKA – America’s Beta Test
Mike – Someone who confuses “liberal” and “Marxist”, who quotes from something which he claims is TheManifesto of the Communist Party without accurate attribution, version, date or anything of the kind, who sets up straw men and who appears not to have the slightest idea of what the tenets of liberalism actually are isn’t someone whose opinions on politics are worth anything.
Of course if you do indeed know and understand something of the historic origins of liberalism, the relevance of Locke, Mill, Paine, and de Tocqueville, among many others, to the liberal democratic ideal and its part in the origins and early growth of the US then I’ll be glad to concede that you were merely amusing yourself by playing the part of an ignorant bigot.