George Orwell would be shocked

[GirlinContempt]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1542336,00.html?gusrc=rss

George Orwell would be shocked at the popular support for the spread of surveillance technology, writes Victor Keegan

There is not much doubt now that the world has entered the age of surveillance - with the UK at the leading edge. Britain now has over 4 million CCTV cameras in operation, the guardian angels of a secular society. If a referendum were to be held in the wake of the terrorists' attacks recommending cameras on every street it would probably be carried overwhelmingly. This is slightly surprising, not just because of the long-term implications for civil liberties, but because video cameras do not seem to have acted as a deterrent to terrorists, even though they have made it easier to identify them afterwards, whether dead or alive.

The main means of tracking terrorist suspects down has been the monitoring of mobile phone conversations. Not only can operators pinpoint users to within yards of their location by "triangulating" the signals from three base stations, but - according to a report in the Financial Times - the operators (under instructions from the authorities) can remotely install software onto a handset to activate the microphone even when the user is not making a call. Who needs an ID card when they can do that already?


snip

As technology continues to advance at a breathtaking pace, the future scope for finding out who we are is quite awesome. The current issue of Business Week lists the ways in which we can be uniquely identified from DNA and radio frequency identification tabs (RFID) to body odour, breath or saliva. There are even scientists working on "gait recognition" so future video cameras can pick us out from the way we walk in a crowd.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1542336,00.html?gusrc=rss

[carnie_sf]

1. George Orwell

was an optimist

[mark11727]

2. There's a tee-shirt in there somewhere...

ORWELL WAS AN OPTIMIST

[lvx35]

3. No kidding. Somebody should make one, I'll buy! n/t

[mongo]

4. LOL

Actually, I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

[FreedomAngel82]

5. Sometimes I think to myself

that Orwell was trying to warn us. Maybe he knew more and what could come and that's why he wrote his book. Wasn't he on the inside to a lot in Britian?

[Dudley_DUright]

6. Orwell was a time traveler

He just changed the date to give us more warning.

[lvx35]

7. The scary part is a lot of the folks working on this don't know what its f

I knew a guy who was part of the effort to get positions by triangulation with cell phones. The word inside the company, which was part of AT&T as I recall, was that it was strictly for use for 911 systems, and placing the calls. Its the "dual use" technology that gets us in the end. Probably 99% of the stuff that will be applied to Orwellian ends has a valid, non-orwellian use the scientists are thinking of while they make it!

[GirlinContempt]

8. Very true

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

9. totally off topic

what, no response to PMs? :cry:

glad to see you though :hi:

[GirlinContempt]

10. PMs?

I don't remember getting one, hun

Where have you been? Not on AIM or Yahoo thats for sure

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

11. I sent you a PM a few weeks back

July 26th at 4:59 pm to be exact

I moved and have no internet acces at home till wednesday :evilfrown:

how are you?

[GirlinContempt]

13. Awww

I can't wait till you get access!!

I'm fine, you?

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

14. doing good,

still catching up on sleep lost to packing and energy on moving...hows by you?

[Uncle Joe]

12. Not to mention

"Clear Skies", "Healthy Forests" and "Compassionate Conservative"