Orwell to turn in grave

I found this story from the Foreign Policy blog, and it links to this BBC article:

 

‘Talking’ CCTV scolds offenders

CCTV in action

“Talking” CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England. They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.

About £500,000 will be spent adding speaker facilities to existing cameras.

Shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire said the government should be “very careful” over the cameras.

An example of how talking cameras work

Home Secretary John Reid told BBC News there would be some people, “in the minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions”.

“But the vast majority of people find that their life is more upset by people who make their life a misery in the inner cities because they can’t go out and feel safe and secure in a healthy, clean environment because of a minority of people,” he added.

What really upsets people is their night out being destroyed or their environment being destroyed by a fairly small minority of people John Reid

The talking cameras did not constitute “secret surveillance”, he said.

“It’s very public, it’s interactive.”

Competitions would also be held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the voice of the cameras, Mr Reid said.

Downing Street’s “respect tsar”, Louise Casey, said the cameras “nipped problems in the bud” and reduced bureaucracy.

“It gets across the message, ‘please don’t litter our streets because someone else will have to pay to pick up that litter again’,” she told BBC News.

“Half a billion pounds a year is spent picking up litter.”

‘Scarecrow policing’

Mr Brokenshire told the BBC he had a number of concerns about the use of the talking cameras.

“Whether this is moving down a track of almost ‘scarecrow’ policing rather than real policing – actually insuring that we have more bobbies on the beat – I think that’s what we really want to see, albeit that an initiative like this may be an effective tool in certain circumstances.

“We need to be very careful about applying this more generally.”

The talking cameras will be installed in Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, in London, Reading, Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich, Plymouth, Gloucester, Derby, Northampton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Wirral, Blackpool, Salford, South Tyneside and Darlington.

HAVE YOUR SAY A very silly idea from a government that is bereft of wisdom and out of touch Stuart, Dunstable Send us your comments

In Middlesbrough, staff in a control centre monitor pictures from 12 talking cameras and can communicate directly with people on the street.

Local councillor Barry Coppinger says the scheme has prevented fights and criminal damage and cut litter levels.

“Generally, I think it has raised awareness that the town centre is a safe place to visit and also that we are keeping an eye open to make sure it is safe,” he said.

But opponent and campaigner Steve Hills said: “Apart from being absurd, I think it’s rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us on orders from who? Who sets these cameras up?”

There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain.

A recent study by the government’s privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was becoming a “surveillance society”.

Now as Orwellian and foreboding as this is, I still think it would be fun to be the guy on the microphone watching the camera. “Hey, jackass with the stupid looking yellow hat, yeah you. Stop leaving your shit on the floor, clean it up!”

All kinds of potential for fun and abuse. =P

Mark

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Swiss man jailed for Thai insult.

I thought the Swiss were supposed to be neutral?

 

Swiss man jailed for Thai insult

Oliver Jufer has lived in Thailand for more than a decade

A Swiss man has been jailed for 10 years after pleading guilty to charges of insulting the Thai king.

Oliver Jufer, 57, was arrested last December after drunkenly spray-painting posters of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to five charges under Thailand’s draconian lese majeste law.

Judge Phitsanu Tanbukalee said that Jufer received a reduced sentence because he had admitted his guilt.

“This is a serious crime, and he was sentenced to four years for each of five counts, for a total of 20 years,” he said.

“Because he confessed, the court has reduced his sentence to 10 years.”

Jufer is believed to be the first foreigner ever imprisoned for the offence.

Others have been charged in the past, but later expelled from the country rather than jailed.

Sensitive issue

Jufer, who had faced a maximum sentence of 75 years, has lived in Thailand for more than 10 years.

KING BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ   Born in 1927, ascended throne in 1946 World’s longest-serving current head of state Official powers are limited, but wields enormous influence because of popular backing Widely believed to have given backing to 2006 military coup Sensitive regimes

He was recorded on surveillance cameras defacing the portraits on the king’s 79th birthday.

Earlier he had tried to buy alcohol but been refused, since such sales are sometimes banned on important days. King Bhumibol, the world’s longest-serving current head of state, is a very popular figure in Thailand.

The case has highlighted strict laws in Thailand which forbid any criticism of the monarchy.

Such is the sensitivity of the issue, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok, that it is receiving little attention in the Thai media.

Most Thais feel a deep reverence for their monarch. But they also fear discussing the institution because of the severe penalties for criticising members of the royal family.

Jufer has a month to lodge an appeal against the sentence, our correspondent adds, but his best hope now is probably a royal pardon.

Now this isn’t in itself funny (it’s pretty fucked up for the Swiss dude) but what IS funny is the picture of their leader. Look at that guy!  He looks like a Jewish lawyer pansey.  I would be jailed within a day if I lived under those laws and had a leader so ripe for jokes!

Poor country though, they will never have comedians like Jay Leno.

Mark

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Tijuana police are now armed with slingshots!

Tijuana police issued slingshots

Guns confiscated amid allegations of collusion with drug runners

TIJUANA, Mexico – The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.

Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists.
Tijuana’s police force of 2,000 officers has been without guns since Jan. 5, but some patrol alongside armed state police.

President Felipe Calderon sent 3,300 soldiers and federal police to Tijuana at the beginning of January to hunt down drug gangs. The soldiers swept police stations and took officers’ guns for inspection amid allegations by federal investigators that a corrupt network of officers supports smugglers who traffic drugs into the U.S. The weapons are still being checked.

About 100 police demonstrated outside Tijuana town hall on Monday demanding the return of their guns. “The arms are our tools for work,” said officer Juan Manuel Nieves. “Do they want more police to be killed?”

More than 300 people were slain in Tijuana last year including 13 police officers.

Well they’re still a bit more heavily armed than British police officers, but this is a very amusing development! If you’ve been to TJ the Federales tend to be a frightening sight, mexicans with automatic weapons who can throw you in jail for looking at them wrong. They tend to have no qualms planting evidence on your person (happened to a number of people I know) and throwing you in jail. They are very open to bribes though – and they often use their corruption to make money.

There was a time in TJ when my cousin and I were driving a rental car down there (oops!) and on our way back we got pulled over by a TJ officer who told us we went the wrong way down a road (yeah right) and we had to follow him to the station to pay a fine of $80. My cousin was wise enough to ask, “Can we pay here?” and he told us that would only be $40… so we handed it over and he left. Not a bad deal for him, getting 40 for bringing false charges against some tourists…

Anyway, the world will probably be a better place when Federales are armed now only with slingshots.

Mark

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Trekkies in control of congress!

Ok, so this isn’t really news, but it is amusing as hell.

Here’s a general transcript of what he says:

“Now, this president has listened to some people — the so-called “Vulcans” in the White House. The ideologues. But you know, unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek who make their decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it on ideology. These aren’t Vulcans! There are Klingons in the White House! But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don’t let faux Klingons send real Americans to war. It’s wrong.”

I mostly love the reference to the “real” Klingons from Star Trek. It’s crazy that the people in charge of our government can talk as if characters from a fictional world are indeed real. Though it’s not entirely unprecedented… there are a great many who believe the fictional character of Jesus Christ was real – ZING!

Mark

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