Do you like the idea of being in a surveillance society?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm

I even heard that you are tracked every time you go onto the internet and with oyster travelcards in London and various other ways. Is this really too much?

These are all the ways they track us. Like criminals.

HOW WE CAN BE WATCHED
4.2m CCTV cameras
300 CCTV appearances a day
Reg plate recognition cameras
Shop RFID tags
Mobile phone triangulation
Store loyalty cards
Credit card transactions
London Oyster cards
Satellites
Electoral roll
NHS patient records
Personal video recorders
Phone-tapping
Hidden cameras/bugs
Worker call monitoring
Worker clocking-in
Mobile phone cameras
Internet cookies
Keystroke programmes

Answer 1

What really does it matter? all it means is that the system IS in place to capture/find those who DO offend. If you're innocent then what do you have to worry about?

Answer 2

In Baltimore City where I am from the streets are so bad in areas that police do not patrol there. Instead high up on posts and on street lights there are these huge cameras that scan and wtach the streets and look for criminal activity. The cameras have smart chips in them to recognize certain things and then a sensor goes off and alerts an officer.

Talk about crazy. When we are all downtown after the bars we like to stand in the cameras view and act juvenile....we know someone has to be watching.

All in all, it is pretty freaky how much we are really being watched and observed. ALmost like rats ina lab.

Answer 3

The idea of such a totalitarian society is very frightening. At the present, nothing (much) is being done with information not related to crimes of some sort. The implications of such a vast database of our personal lives is staggering.
As for your sub-questions, yes, you can be and are tracked where ever you go on the internet. If from work, your keystrokes may be logged, your websites definitely are logged and monitored.
For predictions of this, read "1984".

Answer 4

I can't believe all the people who said "if you're innocent then what's the problem if you have nothing to hide".... people are so willing to give up their privacy and individual rights. It's the mindset of today. Very sad.

The government doesn't have the right to know what every individual is doing 24 hours a day. It's none of their business. We're citizens not subjects of the state, at least in the U.S. so far. We're not as bad as Britain yet.

Answer 5

Living human kind don't need Mr.Big Brother watching over us.
But at present we have no choice.
Since I-robot is rolling off from the faulty production lines being mass produce back home we have to live with it.
Until the blunders and slip-ups with human errors in the creation of living human kind with IQ into mankind can be solve in planet of apes.
Look at the mess created by I-robot in planet of apes infront your doorsteps.

Answer 6

You haven’t mentioned the DNA database? The police can keep records on everyone including children because they have a right to take your DNA. So if a crime is committed near where-ever you are the police could find out and haul you in for questioning just because your DNA was there. So you’ll have to provide alibis, and be presumed guilty before being considered innocent. It could seriously muck up your life!

The rest of it I can’t be bothered with worrying about just because it’s all out of my hands. I do know that the information commissioner’s powers aren’t as strong as those of other commissioners in Europe though. Hopefully he will continue to keep an eye on it though.

Answer 7

You should live in the United States! It's turned into a police state where citizens are presumed guilty until proven innocent. They are required to show IDs, take off their shoes, relinquish their possessions, discard liquids, and consent to a body search - just before boarding an airplane!
And it's all because a paranoid George W. Bush has squandered billions of dollars on an inane Department of Homeland Security in order to 'protect' us all from 'terrorists' he himself has helped strengthen! -RKO-

Answer 8

I think in all it is good to know that if get attacked its more than likely they can check cctv to see what happened

but when i pull out a wedgie when i think no one is around im sure someone has a laugh

Answer 9

I personally don't have a problem with it. But what is interesting is that considering we are being tracked so much, how come there is still so much violence and people being hurt, where are all the camers then? I would like to think that if you have nothing to hide, then, you will not have a problem. But it remains to be seen.

Answer 10

in a word NO!!,
it would'n't be so bad if these surveylance systems reduced crime or terrorism, but they dont, our local police farce could'n't catch a cold.
Big Brother was a good film, i dare say a classic, but living in a real B.B. world is not my idea of freedom!