When I was researching my article "Big Brother Ain't Just Watching Anymore" I came upon this information I thought I'd share. . . .Talk about ironic. . . .In 1949, George Orwell wrote a book titled "Ninteen Eighty-Four" According to wikipedia.com: The novel has become famous for its portrayal of pervasive government surveillance and control, and government's increasing encroachment on the rights of the individual - "Big Brother is Watching You". . . .
The technology in 1949 was prehistoric compared to today - Orwell invisioned a two-way telescreen in every home through which The Party would monitor the populace. They had foot soldiers and snoopy neighbors, and we have *24 hour surveillance cameras, *RFID tags, GPS, *facial recognitions systems, etc. . . .George Orwell must be turning over in his grave.
Britain has a staggering 4.2million CCTV cameras - one for every 14 people in the country - and 20 per cent of cameras globally. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily.
Use of spy cameras in modern-day Britain is now a chilling mirror image of Orwell's fictional world, created in the post-war Forties in a fourth-floor flat overlooking Canonbury Square in Islington, North London.
On the wall outside his former residence - flat number 27B - where Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move.
Orwell's view of the tree-filled gardens outside the flat is under 24-hour surveillance from two cameras perched on traffic lights.
The flat's rear windows are constantly viewed from two more security cameras outside a conference centre in Canonbury Place.
In a lane, just off the square, close to Orwell's favourite pub, the Compton Arms, a camera at the rear of a car dealership records every person entering or leaving the pub.
Within a 200-yard radius of the flat, there are another 28 CCTV cameras, together with hundreds of private, remote-controlled security cameras used to scrutinise visitors to homes, shops and offices.
The message is reminiscent of a 1949 poster to mark the launch of Orwell's 1984: 'Big Brother is Watching You'.
In the Shriji grocery store in Canonbury Place, three cameras focus on every person in the shop. Owner Minesh Amin explained: 'They are for our security and safety. Without them, people would steal from the shop. Although this is a nice area, there are always bad people who cause trouble by stealing.'
Three doors away, in the dry-cleaning shop run by Malik Zafar, are another two CCTV cameras.
'I need to know who is coming into my shop,' explained Mr Zafar, who spent £400 on his security system.
This week, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) produced a report highlighting the astonishing numbers of CCTV cameras in the country and warned how such 'Big Brother tactics' could eventually put lives at risk.
The RAE report warned any security system was 'vulnerable to abuse, including bribery of staff and computer hackers gaining access to it'. One of the report's authors, Professor Nigel Gilbert, claimed the numbers of CCTV cameras now being used is so vast that further installations should be stopped until the need for them is proven.
One fear is a nationwide standard for CCTV cameras which would make it possible for all information gathered by individual cameras to be shared - and accessed by anyone with the means to do so.
The RAE report follows a warning by the Government's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas that excessive use of CCTV and other information-gathering was 'creating a climate of suspicion'.
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I don't have a problem with individuals and businesses having their own security systems for their safety and others protection. . . .If I could afford it I would have it at my own home. . . .But when the Government i.e. "Big Brother" watches everything you do. . . .It is a whole different story. . . .They have the ability to take away your "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"
It is argued that CCTV displaces crime, rather than reducing it. It's kind of like the argument that if you you outlaw guns, then only the criminals will have guns.
Here's some good movies to watch that shows you how "Big Brother maybe Watching You": Enemy of the State, V for Vendetta, I Robot, Minority Report, Eagle Eye, and of course 1984.
*CCTV - Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors.
*A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database. It is typically used in security systems and can be compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint or eye iris recognition systems
*RFID tags - Radio-frequency identification - applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391081-details/George+Orwell,+Big+Brother+is+watching+your+house/article.do
