UK's Big Brother is Born
UK privacy campaigners have been sounding the alarm ever since Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras were first introduced into The Land of Hope and Glory. Recent revelations by The Guardian prove the truth of the old adage “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean everyone’s not out to get you.” “A national network of roadside cameras will be able to ‘read’ 50m licence plates a day,” the paper reports. “Enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of motorists. Police have been encouraged to ‘fully and strategically exploit’ the database, which is already recording the whereabouts of 10 million drivers a day, during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to low-level crime.” And the hits keep happening. “Senior officers” had promised the data would only be stored for two years. The Home Office has now admitted that it will keep the info on file for five. Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said the database would give police “extraordinary powers of surveillance.” In fact, “This would never be allowed in any other democratic country.” From his lips to your ears.
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Time to re-read The Traveler by John Twelve-Hawks. You can (sort of) read about the author at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Twelve_Hawks. Much of the second book, The Dark River, takes place in the UK and the author remarks on surveillance there as well.
Once again I ask - what expectation of privacy is there on a public street?
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Who'd have thought September 11th would have brought us to this.