Orwellian Logic

According to the head of Scotland Yard's Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido), CCTV is utterly useless in detecting or preventing crime or for convicting criminals.

The solution (All together now!): More cameras and a national database!

Somewhere the shade of Stalin smiles as if upon a little child.

Wardencam

Eyes in the sky not enough? How about cameras strapped to the heads of traffic wardens.

Whatever you do, don't respond with an exasperated "Why don't they just..." because the government will take it as a serious proposal.

Big Brother is Listening to You

From the Telegraph (emphasis added):

Hidden mini-cameras and microphones that can eavesdrop on conversations in the street are the next step in the march towards a "Big Brother" society, MPs were warned yesterday.

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, said a debate had begun about whether listening devices should be set up alongside Britain's 4.5 million CCTV cameras.

Charming. Next it will be CCTV cameras that invade our dreams.

Climate of Fear

From the Evening Standard:

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas will publish a report highlighting the "creeping encroachment" on civil liberties by the Government and official bodies.

The report accuses ministers of creating a climate of fear through increasing use of CCTV cameras, the computer tracking of shopping habits and plans for ID cards.

Mr Thomas, who three years ago warned that Britain is "sleepwalking into a surveillance society", argues that his fears may have already been realised.

You always see the train right before it hits you.

Why Wait?

The Ministry of Love has come up with a tremendous boost to efficiency in controlling Outer Party members fighting crime: CCTV cameras programmed to spy on you before you do anything wrong. But as Stuart Thompson,manager of the company developing the camera, says, "The innocent have nothing to fear."

And the Thoughtpolice will tell you when you are no longer "innocent".

Thoughtcrime Watch

The pilot programme in Middlesbrough to keep the proles in line help fight crime through CCTV cameras equipped with tannoys has proven such a gross violation of ancient liberties so successful that it is now being expanded to twenty other communities around Britain so that more people can enjoy the benefits of never knowing a moment's peace.

The Home Secretary John Reid says that the system is not "secret surveillance" saying,

It's very public, it's interactive.

Amazingly, he regards this as some sort of defence rather than a damning out of his own mouth.

The BBC, in an effort to help the public become accustomed to its new role as Outer Party members of Airstrip One, provided this scenario of the frighteningly near future.

Notice how the man in question has the suitably hunted look of a thoughtcriminal caught out. It's Room 101 for you, my lad!

Mr. Reid claims that the trade offs are well worth the candle and any fears of encroaching tyranny are mere paranoia because there is only a "minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions". This is, of course, quite right. Why should the people have any fears as unseen, unaccountable eyes watch their every move from ubiquitous cameras and bark orders at them when they fail to follow the whimsical diktats of the Party? They should simply go about their lives in the comforting knowledge that people who know better than they will watch over them and save them from their fellow citizens or even themselves.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Clark Kent, Call Your Service

What could be worse than having CCTV cameras everwhere you turn?

How about X-ray CCTV cameras!