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The Big Brother Scenario

New high definition CCTV cameras that are capable of identifying and tracking a person’s face from half a mile away are being rolled out across UK cities without public consultation.

The Independent has highlighted the use of the increasingly sophisticated cameras which they claim may be in breach of human rights laws. Andrew Rennison, the new surveillance camera commissioner, has predicted that there will be a public outcry if facial recognition systems and HD cameras are allowed to loom over our public areas.

Rennison said: “The technology has overtaken our ability to regulate it. I’m convinced that if we don’t regulate it properly – ie, the technological ability to use millions of images we capture – there will be a huge public backlash. It is the Big Brother scenario playing out large. It’s the ability to pick out your face in a crowd from a camera which is probably half a mile away.”

The first official code of conduct for CCTV use will report to Parliament in April 2013 and the commissioner has said that he will ensure that “we remain Article 8 [right to a private life] compliant in this country”.

The commissioner is absolutely right to warn about the risks of new CCTV technology. However, the Home Office has undermined the commissioner from the start by giving him absolutely no powers to act when he views that wrong doing may have occurred.

Proper regulation of CCTV needs someone to have the power to inspect cameras and punish those breaking the law. If the Home Office is serious about this issue then the surveillance camera commissioner needs proper powers to protect our privacy.

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Home
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=567543450 Billy Liar

    “Without Public Consultation” – no democracy, no accountability. Who is approving this, going ahead and enforcing surveillance upon a naive and docile population? Welfare retrenchment as surveillance maximus spreads like wildfire. How to resist this when no one seems to care in the UK?

  • Table

    Well said Billy.

  • Anonymous

    I have to wonder; in a time of recession and heavy cut-backs in public spending, which group of people are going to be the ones who analyse and use this mass of data and how much are they going to be charging? With a (probably wildly inaccurate) estimate of 1.85 million CCTV cameras, the sheer volume of data collected would be staggering

  • Paranoid???

    What kind of country are we living in? With so much intrusive surveillance in our day to day lives it is almost as if we are being treated like prisoners being watched in case we do something wrong. Prisoners probably have more rights in prison than we have as the ‘so called’ innocent public. Someone needs to get a grip on these ‘out of control’ people and companies before it is too late.

    • unperson

      I suggest doing some research into exactly what a ‘democracy’ is as opposed to a republic, how your birth certificate makes you liable to obey the ‘rules’ of the UK Corporation which is in a state of bankruptcy, who the national debt is really owed to, and the idea of all the money in use in the public in the UK carrying that debt. This might help you get an idea of why we have so many statutes being passed constantly simply to create revenue to pay the UK Corporation’s creditors,
      the start of an amazing journey into the truth of our situation..

  • empa

    Whenever I raise these issues with my friends all I ever hear is “I don’t break the law so I have nothing to worry about” or “as soon as they start killing people for their beliefs, that’s when I’ll rise up…” I wish there was an easy way to rouse them.

    • Cantankerous

      they are already killing disabled people

  • MikeyJ

    “If you’ve got nothing to hide…you’ve got nothing to worry about”!…..blah blah blah….This is stated by the likes of Government officials and Police forces etc…A lot of whom have things to hide but need not worry because whenever they do wrong they are protected by the state..(in the public interest of course). We are having our freedoms and civil liberties eroded on a daily basis. The reason for this….is to stop terrorists and organised crime ?(allegedly)…..blah blah blah…The real terrorists are the world ‘elite’. They own the big corporations etc. They’ve got to where they are by stealing and pilfer-ageing from people and states over decades. The war on terror is a farce created by these power hungry, scheming, slimy cunts! It basically gives them a right to impose any kind of draconian measure on the general populations of the world. They fear the citizens coming together collectively and unified with one voice. They bring out all kinds of legislation and laws to keep each individual wrapped up in their own problems that we never have the time to take a step back and see the bigger picture. I could go on as there are so many examples of what is actually going on in the world…but whats the point…we are all just sheep anyway…mankind needs to wake up or our children and their children will be born into slavery and a world of totalitarian control!…serving the elite!…REVOLUTION!!!!!

  • me

    When David Icke was talking about this over 20 years ago almost everyone was :D
    By the way Cameron just anounced today that GB is not in recesuon anymore- what a clown

  • John Name

    I can’t be doing with all this paranoid stuff that other commenters are posting. I just think it’s reasonable to not want to be tracked by cameras when I’m out and about minding my own business.