Public Audio Surveillance Hits London
Everyday this Big Brother stuff gets scarier and scarier. Pretty soon the only place you'll be safe is in your own home, in your bed room, under the blanket. We posted before about experts declaring that by 2057 there will be roughly one million sensors and recorders for every U.K. resident. It looks like London is wasting no time rushing towards that goal.
We're well aware of the security cameras already all over the city, but it looks like Londoners will also have to brace themselves for audio surveillance, too. In order to break up gangs, London police have begun a program using audio bugs placed in public places.
Currently, the listening devices have only been deployed in Lambeth, in south London, where youth gangs are particularly prevalent, and where gun crime has risen 10 percent in the last six months. The hope is that the intelligence gathered will help authorities identify key figures in the tight-knit, but loosely organized groups, which will better allow police to disrupt their activities.
Public eavesdropping, sans warrants, by law enforcement is sure to rankle some privacy advocates. Authorities are hoping a drop in crime will quell the inevitable uproar. We shall see.
Would you approve of audio eavesdropping if it reduced crime in your area?
From The BBC
Related Links:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bernard @ Oct 23rd 2007 8:56AM
Remarkably, the nation who brought us Magna Carta and the process of the Common Law has also been profoundly expedient in allowing their goverment to step on the civil rights and liberties of their peoples. Whether the Metropolitan Police Powers Act {preempting public speach, etc.}, the Official Secrets Act {precluding the publishing of a profound amount of information - such as which would never allow for a Watergate}, the Prevention of Terrorism Act {suspending Habeous Corpus}, etc., have all been in place for decades. We before the Bush administration {Cheney} began to preempt entrenched civil rights and liberties guaranteed by the US constiution/Bill of Right, England's governments {Labour and/or Conservative} have steadily made post WW2 concepts of civil rights and liberties things to be eaten away at in the name of state security. Let this latest sojourn into private conversations cause all patriots to sit up and take notice. Dating back to the late 1960's in England then Sir Leslie Scarman and later Lord Justice Scarm sought to establish an entrenched Bill of Rights in England, and this came to no avail. Steadily rights and liberties are being erroded. In England, where freedom of speach is not guranteed, nor is the right to petition the government, to keep and bear arms, to due process, etc., etc., it serves as a reminder that it can - and does, happen in a mature democracy. Do not take your liberties for granted!
Dan @ Oct 23rd 2007 9:41AM
You better watch it Bernard! We know where you live!
Your favorite Uncle...
Sammy
nick danger @ Dec 12th 2007 12:49PM
it's amazing that i have to put my e-mail address down and have a password just to make a comment