I watched the first episode of Who’s Watching You? yesterday evening. Not that it told me anything that I did not already know; we are the most watched country in the world by CCTV. Some of the attitudes were interesting although I wish I had a pound for every time I’ve heard some numpty trot out the old “nothing to hide nothing to fear” line and it was, indeed, trotted out in one form or another. Some people want this level of surveillance, some people think that CCTV that publicly humiliates people is a good idea and there were people who think that using undercover spies to catch dog foulers is acceptable practice.
There was an interview with Jacqui Smith and once more I was sharply reminded by how incompetent and utterly unsuited for office current ministers are. You would think that people who are paid to talk would be able to answer simple questions without fluffing it. When asked about the effectiveness of CCTV in crime prevention, she stated that it was. When reminded that her department came to a different conclusion she wittered on about people feeling safe. For fuck’s sake! The issue here is; is this an effective crime fighting tool? Not a fucking comfort blanket. You don’t pass legislation to make people feel safe you dim-wit – and frankly only someone with a juvenile intellect will feel safer being watched all the time. The reality is that in some circumstances, CCTV works after the event in identifying offenders and providing some evidence for the prosecution. What it won’t do is prevent crime.
ANPR was shown in use. In principle, I have no great problems with the police using the technology to identify stolen cars, for example. However, as the programme pointed out; we are all being watched and therefore treated as suspects and those details are being stored for up to two years. This is wholly unnecessary. And, the spokesman for ACPO was forced to concede that marking a vehicle that has been observed at a demonstration was a misuse and therefore an example of function creep.
One thing that came across as a positive was the response of councillors in Poole who rejected the surveillance being carried out using RiPA in their name. Good for them, but – and here’s the rub – legislation designed for serious crime should never have been contemplated for this type of minor infraction in the first place and the council official who thought it appropriate should have been disciplined for doing so – along with his legal team who gave it the nod.
Overall, it was worth the watch – although I felt the programme makers could have been a little less easy on the watchers – and certainly so with Jacqui Smith. Spyblog appears to concur.
It’s a neck and neck race between this lot and Obama. Have you seen his pre-emptive incarceration yet?
As someone who grew up during the Hitler war, when government snoopers were held in deepest contempt, I can only blink and rub my eyes at the lemming rush of 21st century Britons and Americans into the arms of the Universal Big Brother State engineered to “protect” us since 9/11. The notion that every car journey I make is filmed and logged by some faceless bureaucrat is utterly chilling. The current hysterical fuss over MPs’ expenses claims and calls for the ‘democratisation’ of politics is quite meaningless if none of the major parties pledges itself to roll back the tentacles of the Intrusive Society. Without privacy there is no freedom. Winston Churchill’s infamous ‘Gestapo’ 1945 election broadcast was more prescient than even he imagined.