Friday, May 22, 2009

I wonder at what stage we all get our own URL?

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Who's Watching You? | Camera grid to log number plates

A national network of cameras and computers automatically logging car number plates will be in place within months, the BBC has learned.

Thousands of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras are already operating on Britain's roads.

Police forces across England, Wales and Scotland will soon be able to share the information on one central computer.

Officers say it is a useful tool in fighting crime, but critics say the network is secretive and unregulated.

Kent's Chief Constable, Michael Fuller, commented: 'We've seen an increase of some 40% of arrests since we've been using this technology.


There seems to be absolutely no way to object to this. Labour has put it into effect. There are no statements from the Tories or Lib Dems to oppose it.

The one prominent politician who has opposed the onslaught of the Database state - David Davis - has been sidelined by his own (Tory) Party.

I wonder if, someday, historians in the future, will look back at blog posts like this and laugh at the simplicity or stupidity of the naive idea that people are communities of "self-knowing rights-bearing individuals" who created the "state" to do things that individuals cannot do.

Perhaps it will seem funny to thing that we, as citizens, are not just units owned by the states.

I wonder at what stage we all get our own URL?

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