We are watching you

R

redhawk41

New member
Judge and jury sitting in a control booth deciding whether your viewed conduct is 'anti-social'. At least they don't issue citations. I guess who needs to defend themselves with a gun when the guy on the other end of the camera can just yell at your assailant 'You are being monitored by CCTV' :rolleyes:

And how long for the 'novelty' of this to wear off to the point that people don't even pay attention any more?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=405477&in_page_id=1770

Big Brother is shouting at you

Big Brother is not only watching you - now he's barking orders too. Britain's first 'talking' CCTV cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly.

The system allows control room operators who spot any anti-social acts - from dropping litter to late-night brawls - to send out a verbal warning: 'We are watching you'.

Middlesbrough has fitted loudspeakers on seven of its 158 cameras in an experiment already being hailed as a success. Jack Bonner, who manages the system, said: 'It is one hell of a deterrent. It's one thing to know that there are CCTV cameras about, but it's quite another when they loudly point out what you have just done wrong.

'Most people are so ashamed and embarrassed at being caught they quickly slink off without further trouble.

'There was one incident when two men started fighting outside a nightclub. One of the control room operators warned them over the loudspeakers and they looked up, startled, stopped fighting and scarpered in opposite directions.

'This isn't about keeping tabs on people, it's about making the streets safer for the law-abiding majority and helping to change the attitudes of those who cause trouble. It challenges unacceptable behaviour and makes people think twice.'

The Mail on Sunday watched as a cyclist riding through a pedestrian area was ordered to stop.

'Would the young man on the bike please get off and walk as he is riding in a pedestrian area,' came the command.

The surprised youth stopped, and looked about. A look of horror spread across his face as he realised the voice was referring to him.

He dismounted and wheeled his bike through the crowded streets, as instructed.

Law-abiding shopper Karen Margery, 40, was shocked to hear the speakers spring into action as she walked past them.

Afterwards she said: 'It's quite scary to realise that your every move could be monitored - it really is like Big Brother.

[for rest of article follow above link]
 
S

Scott Conklin

New member
I'm going to post this article around a few places, just to depress myself with some of the positive replies I know I'll read...
 
S

sm

New member
Hey Big Brother -Rare Earth

When does the model come out for the People to watch LawMakers in real time so the People can yell out "Quit stomping on my Rights to be Free!"


Steve
 
G

gunslinger555

New member
"The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the shouting outside had died down a little. The waiters were turning back to their work. One of them approached with the gin bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The long hoped-for bullet was entering his brain.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

"The last lesson had been learned. “He loved Big Brother.” "


http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/
 
C

Cowled_Wolfe

New member
I like this comment from the bottom of the link:

I don't think this would work in Atlanta. Nobody cares. They would steal the cameras.

- David, Atlanta, USA
Click to expand...

For some reason, I think the camera/speaker scheme could only work in Europe, where people have forgotten how to be wary of their own gov't (probably because they're too busy being angry at the US gov't)...
 
E

Epyon

New member
****!!!!

I can't believe this! 1984 has completed in England!! All we need now are the armed guards patrolling the streets. So when is it going to be Europe and America's turn to follow England's trend? Hey before this site becomes illegal pass me the ammo will you? I need a few thousand boxes full!! While you're at it hold this rocket launcher, it's going to be a long night...


Epyon


P.S: Hopefully it'll never come to that here in America, but it is known that England is the most heavily surveyed country in the world!!
 
D

DonR101395

New member
Great, now when I'm in England I'll now have to distinguish between the voices in my head and the voices from a camera pole.:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
R

redhawk41

New member
DonR101395, add this technology to the mix and there would be no way to distinguish:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-05-19-hss_x.htm

Essentially, HSS for the first time does for sound what the laser did for light — intensely focuses and channels it so it can travel great distances without dispersing. In the demo, a technician points a speaker the size of a cereal box at someone standing 100 yards away. Amid the din of the nearby freeway, the technician plays a recording of ice cubes clinking into a glass.

To the listener, the sound comes across as if it were through headphones, totally unlike a sound blaring from a distant speaker over oppressive car noise. Take two steps to the side, out of the sound beam, and you hear nothing at all. Step back in, and there it is again.

"I am certain that in time, HSS will be used everywhere," says Dionyssis Angelopoulos of Athens, Greece. He read about HSS, came to San Diego to hear it and went back to his Greek company to build it into commercial sound systems.

Though the technology is still years from becoming mainstream, HSS could be used to make laptop speakers that blare music to the person in front of the screen, while no one else could hear it. It could allow a grocery store to play audio advertisements that seem to come from, say, the display of Duracell batteries, yet the ad could be heard only by the shopper in front of the display. An HSS-equipped car could play one CD for the parents up front and another for kids in the back. Neither would hear even a whisper of the others' music.
 
O

oldbillthundercheif

Moderator
I don't mean to have a geek-attack here, but some of the frequencies of the human voice are low enough to be very difficult to direct and focus. You could filter out the lows, but people with any sort of hearing loss tend to get it in the upper end of the spectrum. A minor problem, but not something that is easily solved considering the masses of people with hearing loss walking around any industrialized country. You would want your fancy super-directional speaker to be universally understandable by as many people as possible.

The example of 2 different stereos in the same car not interfering with each other will not work for a few reasons.
1. Auto-glass is reflective to sound. It does not matter how directional the source is, 100% of the emitted energy will not be absorbed by the target's head. It will proceed to bounce around a bit.
2. Low f sound (a major component of all sonic goodness except with the ukilalie, coronet, and a few others) is pretty near nondirectional. Those huge wavelengths will bend around just about anything. This is why the military trials of the bowel-loosening giant-speaker never led to anything. You can't aim low frequency sound.

So unless you and your kid want to listen to two different ukelaile recordings at the same time in a car with magical non-reflective glass, you are out of luck.
 
Last edited:
A

azurefly

Moderator
Nanny state.

The Brits make me want to vomit.

If this is the way the world is going to be in ten years, I think I'd rather not be around. What a sickening freakshow.

Are the Brits really so stupid as to have read 1984 and thought it was a how-to manual?! ***, people?!


-azurefly
 
S

Scott Conklin

New member
I posted it elsewhere...

Someone said it was a great idea and they wished it would come to Maryland...

I may cry. Or kick something. Or plot a Revolution. Would anyone in England(you know, that place where Great Britain used to be) know what a revolution was anymore?
 
E

Epyon

New member
2nd Amendment...

I don't think anyone in England would understand, considering the Americans kicked their English pansy @$$3$ a few hundred years back!:D :D :D Apparently the English citizens still love being subjugated instead of having freedom. As for the person who said we should have something like that here in the states, slap them with a relaity check! Oh wait, that's anti-social behavior!!:D :D :D


Epyon
 
R

rick_reno

Moderator
Has anyone here seen THX 1138? The brits are on their way to a weird George Lucas film reality.
Click to expand...

I think "V for Vendetta" is a much clearer message about what is happening there (and here).
 
B

BlueTrain

New member
This business of watching the citizens with cameras and the like and now, shouting at them, reminds me of the practice of catching fish with a fly rod and flies: it requires some training on the part of the fish. Uneducated fish are still best caught by hungry fishermen with a bait casting outfit.

The same sort of belief in technology finds its way into military usage, of course. The air force will fly over enemy territory so low that nothing dare move in the daytime. Or they fly drones over the area, the lastest technology. What happens? It gets dark and the enemy comes out to play. Of course, they stay inside during the day anyway because it's so hot, planes or no planes.
 
T

teuffelhundenao

New member
This Big Brother stuff in Jolly ol England gives me the willies. It is starting to happen here in America, with stop light cameras and le cameras in down town big cities. Sure it may help to curb violent crimes but riding your bicycle on a sidewalk? What's next getting yelled at and ticketed for sneezing and not covering your mouth and nose. I'm a country boy and I like my privacy count me out of going to England lest I upset someone by violating a social more.
 
J

jcoiii

New member
Anyone heard of the success rate with "Hey, would the guy who is mugging the lady in the blue shirt please stop?" shouting from the camera system?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top