I was struck this week by the announcement from Manchester
City Council that they are installing 15 ‘Super-cameras’ on the streets of
Manchester. Initially what concerned me was the cost at £17k per camera, over a
quarter of million in total. But what are they going to be used for? Well quite
simply catching motorists driving in bus lanes. It seems each device has two hi-tech
cameras and includes night vision capabilities, which enables them to catch up
to 50 times more motorists than previous models of camera. Ahh right, I get it,
so its to raise cash catching out unwitting drivers who end up in bus lanes in
the city centre. They’re an easy target as driving round the city centre is a
nightmare and ending up in a bus lane occurs all the time. Okay I get it now,
just the usual anti-motorist policies of Labour controlled councils in the
region.
Big Brother’s
Watching
What it did get me thinking about, was CCTV cameras in
general, I wondered just how many there are of these things observing and recording
our lives? The figures stunned me !
I found a report produced earlier this year by the British
Security Industry Authority who estimated that there are up to 5.9 million
closed-circuit television cameras in the country, including 750,000 in
“sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and care homes. The report was
of the opinion that there is now one CCTV camera for every 11 people in the UK.
So how did this happen ? What are they all used for ? Who’s
operating them and why ? All legitimate questions when we live in an allegedly
free and open country. This isn’t Communist Russia or China, or somewhere like
Iran or Syria, this is England, defender of the free !!
The UK has the highest person to camera ratio of any country
in the world. Yes there are echoes of Orwell’s 1984. It seems, in 21st
Century England we are now being monitored in a way that few of us would recognise
as being part of a healthy democratic society.
Where are all these cameras then ?
Everywhere it seems ! The report estimated there are between
291,000 and 373,000 cameras in public sector schools, plus a further 30,000 to
50,000 in independent schools. Surgeries and health centres have an estimated
80,000 to 159,000, while there are believed to be between 53,000 and 159,000
cameras in restaurants. The vast majority are private cameras.
Cheshire Study
Another study back in 2011 involved plastic policemen
(PCSOs) physically counting virtually every camera in Cheshire. Over a two year
period they interviewed the owners of every premises in the county. During the
ongoing project they counted 12,333 cameras, the majority of these were inside
premises, rather than facing the street, and only a relatively small number of
(504) were run by public authorities.
Now forgive me for asking, but did you realise that all
these private individuals, companies and corporate big business were recording
you and me? What are they doing with the data they record ? And more to the
point, who is watching them?
Corporate Hypocrisy
An interesting fact I discovered is that many of these
private companies film you, but don’t allow photography on their premises. A
very good example of this is LendLease who own and operate Golden Square
Shopping Centre in the centre of Warrington. This place is ridden with CCTV
cameras, they record your every move from arriving to leaving. Now within one
of the courtyards is the historic Barley Mow pub, the oldest pub in Warrington,
built in 1561. If you try to take a photo of this historic landmark you will be
descended on rather rapidly by a couple of intimidating meat head private
security guards ordering you to desist or leave the shopping centre. Why? Well
guess what? Photography by the public is banned, but it’s perfectly ok for them
to record you though !
Crime Prevention
All these cameras are allegedly there to prevent crime and
make you feel safer. How often though are their images inadmissible in court as
evidence? More often than you think. They don’t prevent the crime taking place,
they make it a bit easier for the police to catch the offenders. And don’t
forget, with all those cameras in place, none of them caught those two muslim guys
hacking a soldier to death on the Woolwich streets earlier this year.
Even my neighbour has a cctv camera installed watching his drive. When some local scrotes had a go at his car, the security lights
came on, all the balaclavered yobs did was give a thumbs up to the camera and
carry on !
Cameras will quite happily let you get raped and murdered,
they merely ensure that there will be video evidence should your unfortunate
demise happen in front of it. Unless of course your attacker is wearing a hood.
Safety, is not what these devices provide.
Not Doing Anything
Wrong
The main argument most people repeatedly trot out is “If
you’re not doing anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about”. Didn’t the
Gestapo and the KGB use this kind of argument ? If you do nothing wrong, then
what you do is nobody's business but your own. It’s not about that though; it’s
about intrusion and removal of privacy. It’s about private companies holding
images of me. I’m not doing anything
wrong, I’m not a criminal but I resent being followed by cameras wherever I go.
I was in Bristol for a conference a few years back. I can
vividly remember my surprise in looking up from my cornflakes in the breakfast
room of my hotel only to see a CCTV camera staring back at me. Was it really necessary?
So, actually I do have something to hide. It’s my privacy. I
value my privacy and draw a line. I refuse to accept for whatever reason, to
give up my privacy. I am happy in the knowledge that I do not commit crimes and
feel as an individual that values my privacy that I shouldn't have to relinquish it for a crime I may or may not commit.
Regulation
The Home Office introduced a CCTV Code Of Practice last year
after concerns over the potential for the abuse or misuse of surveillance by
the state in public places. But this was only a code of practice and only
concerned public not private cameras. The code was also written in such general
terms that there will be no change in CCTV use at all. In addition there are no
penalties so the people working for the authorities will just ignore the code, so what was the point. Another toothless policy.
Bigger Picture
Is this part of a bigger picture, we already know that all
our emails and phone conversations are recorded? They fingerprint kids in
schools for "school dinners" and library use. How long before DNA is
taken at birth ? And what about ANPR ? This is another form of CCTV; it’s
defined as providing a motion profile of your vehicle (incl. picture) and is
taken without your explicit consent by roadside cameras all over the country then
stored for 2 years.
I don’t remember voting for any of this, it feels like its
been done by stealth. In truth its been done under the technological progress
banner. But why? Why have we allowed this to happen in this country? In other countries they object and
don’t allow themselves to be continually videoed, that’s why we have the most
cameras in the world, we’re just brain washed compliant people.
Path of Least Resistance
We seem more and more, to be becoming a quasi police state, most
people just don't see it. It might be hard for the liberal minded Brits to
understand, but in most countries there aren't spy cameras on every street
corner, and most governments don't metaphorically steam open everyone's letters
with digital technology. It is also not normal behaviour of governments to
record all telephone calls either, and we know the British Government is doing
all these things thanks to Edward Snowden, a man now on the run in fear for his
life. There’s no need for it, no one benefits from it, where’s it all going to
lead? Civil disobedience ? Uprisings? I doubt it, we’ll just settle for the
path of least resistance as we always do. Just give us wall to wall sport and
ready access to cheap alcohol and sex, and you can push anything by us and then film us enjoying it.
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