Police State
Ok, this is just downright scary.
From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored. What on earth is going on back home? Any of my UK readers care to comment?
More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon via a secure police communications network.
The UK seems more and more foreign to me every day…
And there’s more:
The new national surveillance network for tracking car journeys, which has taken more than 25 years to develop, is only the beginning of plans to monitor the movements of all British citizens. The Home Office Scientific Development Branch in Hertfordshire is already working on ways of automatically recognising human faces by computer, which many people would see as truly introducing the prospect of Orwellian street surveillance, where our every move is recorded and stored by machines.
Even though I rail on the US sometimes, at least there is well-formulated protections in the form of the Constitution and Amendments (which of course are currently under attack). Elsewhere, including in my beloved home country, the governing powers seem to be making it up as they go along. All in the name of the “war on terror”.
Lets just hope that the terrorists haven’t basically won by transforming our society into one based on fear. A fear that lets us gladly give those in power the tools to herd and monitor us like sheep.
[Thanks to various, including Joe, for the links.]
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At first i was like, omg even more controls on us in the uk but tbh this has been happening in the uk for years, the whole cctv systems have been drafted in large scale in secret - first they got us used to them and then they just added one here and there in the knowledge that we would not complain as long and people thought it was fighting crime.
You have to remember steve that england is not just england anymore, with the hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees adding to our already fragile health infrastruture alone. Why do you think most people with the means to do so are moving out of the uk! :)
Did you hear about the unit that they want to bring in a few years time that you actually have to pay for the journey you make on our motorways. Think it was on the register website.
Dont get me started on the uk. We will be here all night!
Yes Steve, we are buggered.
The freedoms of society are best served by a rigorous defense of the freedoms of the individual.
Steve, the US isn't too far behind. WA state is about to embark on an extensive tolling network. Transponders will be available to speed up the process of entering the tolled facilities. This technology will allow "the man" to track motorists on the freeways. Currently the plan is to have this technology optional but car manufacturers are planning to install these transponders in all new vehicles within the next 5 to 8 years. (some already do)
As part of the tolling enforcement strategy, the state will be installing several cameras with license plate recognition software.
On top of that, as I'm sure you know, the state has a very extensive CCTV camera network on the freeways (the cities seattle, bellevue, redmond, lynnwood, etc all do as well). It's not a giant leap for these systems to be upgarded to support AVI (automatic vehicle identification).
Does this mean Flight Sim 200x will be able to have "live road traffic" (link to data like the weather system) so Brit's can do "traffic reports" from their FS Cessna?
Seriously I read the U.K. mag CAR; In the Sept '05 issue they drove a route with using the proposed "per mile charging system" comparing the cost to the current fuel tax. A 70 mile trip would cost £21 vs todays £5. I think that tax income is the real goal for this sort of system...
Karen, it will be very interesting to see how accepting of that technology the people of Washington state will be.