Big brother is watching you!

[birdseye]

" There are an estimated 25 million security cameras in use worldwide. The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) estimates there are between 4-5.9 million cameras in the UK. Britain has more surveillance activity than any other European country per capita - latest CCTV statistics show that there is one security camera for every 14 people."

I was reading with horror a report of the Chinese government approach to what they call "the social credit system"  described by the Hill as " China's social credit system is a combination of government and business surveillance that gives citizens a “score” that can restrict the ability of individuals to take actions — such as purchasing plane tickets, acquiring property or taking loans — because of behaviors.3 Aug 2021".

Then not only did I discover that we have almost a quarter of the worlds CCTV here in the UK but I realised we were already running a social credit system in one area - driving. Think about it. You have cameras effectively hidden in a jungle of road side hoardings, signs etc watching what you do and levying penalties for certain behaviours. Sure you can make a justification of sorts for this but then you also could for the misused Terrorism acts. Or no doubt for much of China's social credit criteria

I studied 1984 for my English Lit O level back in the days. The man was a prophet - just didnt get the year correct.

I wonder how much further it will go. Particularly under Labour who hold a view that citizens owe a duty to society.

[c-a-r-f-r-e-w]

And the cameras in your phone, microphones in the telly, in your speakers, recordings when you ring up some service, all the stuff that you might delete on social media which might not really be deleted....

[Deleted]

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/china-ai-surveillance/614197/

and of course

www.wired.com/story/russia-ira-propaganda-senate-report/

[Deleted]

www.privacycompliancehub.com/gdpr-resources/lets-not-sleepwalk-into-a-surveillance-society/

and

www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist

We live in a surreal world

[birdseye]

We tend to associate this sort of thing with Putin and xi Jinping but in reality we are doing just the same thing.Surprisingly so are the Yanks if the trash US crime dramas that I watch are any guide. Our intentions may be good but then the road to hellis paved with good intentions.

The one thing we can to some degree rely on is good old british inefficiency. When I tried to look at the Severn bridge in the recent windy weather, 7 out of the 8 cameras were out of action. The speed cameras on our smart motorway havent worked for 2 years.

[neilj]

Apparently 96% of the total number of cameras in the UK are operated by private businesses and homeowners. Not sure what could be done about that even if we wanted to. I suppose the Government could make a law banning private cameras, but can't see it happening.

[birdseye]

I doubt that percentage neil - are the dvla tax cameras |"private". What about the speed cameras. For that matter what about LA cameras.

[neilj]

Mar 8, 2022 8:01:12 GMT birdseye said:

I doubt that percentage neil - are the dvla tax cameras |"private". What about the speed cameras. For that matter what about LA cameras.

You can Google it, I found this
'According to IFSEC Global, there were approximately 5.2 million CCTV cameras in operation in the UK in 2020. This is the equivalent of one camera for every 13 people.

96% of the UK’s surveillance cameras are owned by private businesses and homeowners.'

Consider the numbers in shops and private houses this is probably about right.

[birdseye]

Yes, I saw the same Google thing. My reason for doubting is firstly the definition of "government". Does it include all the public sector eg NHS, DVLA etc? And then I wonder how they can know how many are private - do amazon register every sale? Problem is that you can put what is little more than an educated guess into print and it morphs into a hard fact.

[birdseye]

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