Big Brother
Controversial X-ray cameras scheme.
This was actively being considered by Tony B.Liar a couple of years back. What happened – was it rolled out with the public oblivious to what was being done ‘in their name’?
Is this happening in Jersey? Does anyone know?
As part of the most shocking extension of Big Brother powers ever planned, lenses in lampposts would snap “naked” pictures of passers-by to trap terror suspects.
The proposal is contained in leaked documents drawn up by the Home Office and presented to Tony Blair’s working group on Security, Crime and Justice.
But the prospect of the State snooping on individuals’ most private parts is certain to spark national fury and officials are battling to find a way of dealing with that reaction.
Blair … working group
A January 17 memo discusses the cameras, which can see through clothes.
It says “detection of weapons and explosives will become easier” and says cameras could be deployed in street furniture.
It adds: “Some technologies used in airports have already been used as part of police operations looking for drugs and weapons in nightclubs. These and others could be developed for a much more widespread use in public spaces.
“Street furniture could routinely house detection systems that would indicate the likely presence of a gun, for example.”
But the document goes on to reveal fears at the public reaction.
Officials have agreed one solution would be to allow only women to monitor female subjects ? although they admit this would be “very problematic” in crowds.
The memo says: “The social acceptability of routine intrusive detection measures and the operational response required in the event of an alarm are likely to be limiting factors.
“Privacy is an issue because the machines see through clothing.”
Beside cameras, officials are also considering systems known as millimetre wave imaging and THz imaging and spectroscopy.
All are routinely used in airports and other secure places to detect explosives and weapons in luggage and on people.
Rumbled … US system ’strip-searches’ smugglers
Air passengers are now chosen at random for full X-ray examinations ? and must agree to it.
Technology could also be used to halt theft, with fingerprint scanners fitted to many items.
Elsewhere, tagged offenders could be sent electronic pulses to remind them not to re-offend.
Cops would also get the power to build a database of everyone in the land. Three-dimensional CCTV pictures would be coupled with records of people’s mobile phones and even their travel cards to get details of their movements and habits.
And how about this? March 9th ‘10:
Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school’s toilets.
Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.
Some parents are furious at what they say is a “total invasion of privacy” and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.
One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands. She told the Sunday Mercury: “She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl’s toilets but we didn’t know anything about it. “You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision.”
Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.
School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: “It’s to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now. “We had a parents’ forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied. “We’ve found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure.”
But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.
Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: “Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else. “We’re raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not.”
Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.
The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children’s privacy.
Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.
Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.
In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent’s consent.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.
Welcome to George Orwell’s world.
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