Watching You


As Great Britain becomes the most closely watched democracy on Earth, are we seeing the beginning of Big Brother?
This one is frightening. Thank the stars it is not happening in the U.S.

Yet.

Emphasis added.

In a bunker beneath the bustling streets of central London, guards monitor a grid of closed-circuit television.

The centre, at a secret location, is run by a private company in association with the police and local council.

Polls show broad public acceptance, even if the cameras more often capture a couple in loving embrace than a terrorist about to wreak havoc.

Britain has more than 4 million closed-circuit security cameras, more than any other Western democracy.

Police say the average Briton is on as many as 300 cameras every day, usually unaware.

The density of surveillance is significantly higher than in any other Western democracy, says Jen Corlew, spokeswoman for Liberty, a London-based human rights group.

"We are sleepwalking towards a Big Brother society, not in one fell swoop but by stages," warns The Spectator, a conservative magazine.

"There is no boot stamping on a face: just an ever more insistent foot in the door."

But the vast majority of 4,000 people surveyed in 2005 said they believed that tapping phones, opening mail and following terror suspects were a price worth paying to stay safe, according to British Social Attitudes Report - an annual survey released in January.

Where do we draw the line between security and rights?

— NeoWayland

Posted: Sat - June 2, 2007 at 02:37 PM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved