

New UK govt to curb CCTV, scrap ID cards, help open source - ElliotH
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/new-uk-govt-to-curb-cctv-scrap-id-cards-help-open-source.ars

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binarymax
Can anyone recall the name of the philosopher who proposed a one-way viewing
dome in the ceiling of a prison? So that whether or not there was an observer
in the dome, the prisoners never knew for sure if they were being watched?
Thats the way I feel about CCTV in this country - you never know if someone is
watching (but in reality they probably arent, since there are hundreds more
cameras than there are officers to observe them).

Good to see they are coming to their senses and scrapping the ID cards and
ContactPoint.

The broadband sounds like a pipe dream - but I would literally pay double,
maybe even triple, what I am paying now to get what they actually promise. I
have 'up to 8Mbps', but in reality the maximum I get is about 1.

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Sharlin
You're thinking of the Panopticon[1] concept by the English philosopher Jeremy
Bentham[2]. The concept was later used in a more general sense as a metaphor
of the Western society by the French sociologist Michel Foucault[3].

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon> [2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham> [3]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault>

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mattmillr
I knew the EFF's Panopticlick sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. Makes
sense.

<https://panopticlick.eff.org/>

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jessor
Sounds too good to be true. But if it really happens, it would be interesting
to see how other governments react to one of the biggest surveillance
supporting countries changing their policies this radically.

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mvalle
I sure hope Britain can set an example. I recently moved here, and I am
surprised how many CCTVs there actually are. They are even indoors and inside
buses. I hope some of these, obviously LibDem, policies can come through.

I'm not sure though, most Brits I've talked to actually want the CCTVs. What
scares me most, is that the Chinese people I've talked to think that the Great
Firewall is a good idea too. I don't hope Britain and it's people go the same
route, and I hope I'm mistaken, when I say that oppressed people don't mind,
or even like, their oppression.

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joe_fishfish
The problem in Britain seems to be that largely people don't fear their
government, they fear other people. Whether this is due to the class divisions
in British society or a culture of hatred and fear promoted by the two most
widely circulated newspapers in the country, I don't know. But I do agree that
most people see the filming of public spaces as a good thing rather than a bad
thing.

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arethuza
I think if you have been out in a UK city center on a Friday or Saturday night
you might appreciate the problems the cameras are trying to solve. Not that I
agree that the cameras are a good idea - but they are more a symptom of the
darker elements of British culture that have pretty much always been there.

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patrickk
" _A little revolution, now and then, is a healthy thing. It is as natural as
lightning...._ "

Thomas Jefferson

I hope the Lib Dems get their ways on these issues, particularly on the
Digital Economy Bill

