Security cameras. Once just for your local bank lobby or sketchy convenience store, have been made a part of the daily lives for Londoners since their first appearance circa 1984 (coincidence...?). As if that whole system wasn't athouritarian enough for you, the latest implications have arrived: Shouting Big Brother Cameras Use Child Voices "A previously localized trial of CCTV cameras that allow local government officials to monitor people in the streets and shout orders at anyone they deem to be acting in an anti-social manner is to be enforced nationwide across the UK. In a bizarre psychological move the cameras will speak in a child's voice. In an incredibly Orwellian move, loudspeakers are to be fitted to surveillance cameras throughout major cities, allowing CCTV operators to bark commands at people who drop litter, act in an aggressive manner or loiter."
Everything about this speaks bad. With the alleged ever-constant threat of terrorism looming over people's heads, the governments, in either a desperate move to look like they are responding to threats or a perfectly calculated next step in the move towards has challenged the freedom of people everywhere. While it is easy for us to sit stateside and wonder what kind of people would allow their country to do such a thing I give you this. Even the hope machine didn't have the guts to call it like we all see it. Or maybe that's just it, maybe we're just putting the blinders on ourselves.
Tom
