Britons 'Most Spied Upon' In World, page 1
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reply posted on 2-11-2006 @ 10:50 AM by ridcully
Originally posted by ahall999
sometime's I'm ashamed to be an American with people like ThichHeaded

anyway
I'm not surprised to hear this about the UK really, no offense to anyone
it's sad how much control government's want over it's people, I mean this as a general statement for all places


This is the thing though, how many of the cctv cameras are government controlled? Not very many, if any at all. The vast majority are in private residences and businesses for security purposes. The only ones that are controlled by the authorities, are run by local councils, mainly for monitoring traffic congestion and motoring offences. Of those that are in use in city centres, they are there because thats where most crime occurs. Then, they can be used to direct police to offenders, or more commonly be used to secure convictions at a later date. I'd be willing to bet that if ALL cctv systems, in homes business and public, were counted up in the US then the figure would be pretty much equal to the UK.

The reason we don't get all up in arms about it is because by and large most of us feel safer for them when theyre placed where we're most likely to need them. Quite frankly its rediculous that people think we're living in a Big Brother government controlled state when we're not. And to say that Brits don't have the stones to stand up and be counted when needed is stupid. If you read
this report from the BBC, you'll see it was the governments information commisioner who compiled the report! And he wants debates to take place to see what should be done about it!


reply posted on 2-11-2006 @ 06:28 PM by nowthenlookhere
The UK doesn't feel like jail to me.

I don't know whether is because we're so tightly packed together here compared with the US, but I suspect we're more comfortable with the idea of being in public view outside our own homes, so it doesn't really matter if it's a camera that can see you, or just "people". If you want privacy, stay at home or go to the countryside.

There's also so much "petty" law breaking in the UK that most people have a good idea of what they can get away with, and what elicits a response from the authorities and what doesn't, and that sets the parameters wide enough that people don't find their lives overly cramped.
e.g. we're not worried about thought police knocking on our doors for posting on the internet, because we know the security services have their hands full tracking islamic extremists... or we don't worry about smoking a spliff in public at Nottting Hill Carnival because we know the police are too busy trying to stop muggings and stabbings. We still speed on motorways, we still drink underage.

In a way it's like the old problem of too many laws and not enough resources to enforce them. There's far too many cameras for anyone to actually watch. There's a real safety in numbers. I many be on camera 100 times a day, but that means in london around 12 million people are on camera around 1.2 billion times in total. who's gonna notice little old me?

Apart from traffic enforcement cameras, which are the bane of every UK driver, we don't really think about them.

edit : plus, we know how to demonstrate or kick up a fuss if it's required. The US may have their "right-to-bear-arms" as a security blanket and last resort against an oppressive regime. We understand the power of crowds. A barmy army off football hooligans, mayday anarchists and the ability to mass millions of people in the streets of Westminster within 24 hours. Just compare the size of a UK demonstrations with a US one.

It's all gives us a sense of security.



[edit on 2-11-2006 by nowthenlookhere]

[edit on 2-11-2006 by nowthenlookhere]
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