We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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I will support public CCTV cameras if… Tom Wright of wrightwing.net wrote the following as a comment but it is simply too splendid to languish in the comment section…
I have said this before and in other venues:
I will support public [CCTV] cameras only if they are first placed in those areas where the worst and most egregious crimes occur:
In every room and every hallway of every police station in every nation.
In every room and every hallway of every legislative body in every nation.
In every room and every hallway of every executive and judicial branch of every nation.
And, as a condition of employment, upon taking the oath of office, permanently bolted to the head of every elected official, every appointed official, and every official authorized to carry arms in the course of duty.
Turned on, broadcasting, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in a manner I, and every one else, can monitor and record.
Then I will support cameras on me.
Not before.
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Don’t forget the titty bars. That’s where all the real legislative work gets done 😉
Oh, and the journalists: none of us trust the journalists. And the rooms where criminal lawyers talk to their clients.
And then can we add loud hailers likes these
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=15857
“Oi you! Leave ‘im alone you nasty little man”
I don’t have a problem with cameras on, all the time, everywhere. Accessable on the net 24/7. Everybody can see everybody else, all the time. Everywhere. Anytime. No secret places. None.
Nobody should have anything to hide. Ever.
That world is coming, whether we like it or not.
Oh, and the journalists: none of us trust the journalists. And the rooms where criminal lawyers talk to their clients.
So you’d want no journalist ever to be able to expose government corruption or abuse of power, and to have no chance of defending yourself if accused? You win a job at the Home Office/DHS.
someone might want to look at fixing your trackback system. I posted a rant about this tracking back to this post and it hasn’t come up. Also clicking the trackback button brings up an error. Just thought you might like to know.
That’s absurd. As long as there are people with power and people who have power over them, there will be things to quite legitimately hide.
I beg to differ. As long as there are hammers and matches and spray paint cans, there are ways to fight back. You can roll over and accept this as inevitable but I never will.
Resistance is not futile.
Mandrill, the trackback system has been turned off and will eventually be removed completely as spambacks were outnumbering trackbacks by more than 100:1
anonymous , I second our old chum Captain Gatso and I cannot but be amused that your comment is signed…anonymous
As long as there are people with power and people who have power over them, there will be things to quite legitimately hide.
That, and, this too: As long as there is social disapproval that means individual are ostracised, criticised, threatened or embarrassed for the way they conduct their private lives in whole or in part, there there will be things quite legitimate to hide.
And this: As long as people have interests that might be damaged by the knowledge in the hands of others that privacy or confidentiality permits them to pursue, then there will be things quite legitimately to hide.
And this: As long as people may wish to change themselves, reform, live down their mistakes, or adopt different personae in different contexts, then there will be things quite legitimately to hide.
And this: As long as people might have personal enemies or there might be opportunist criminals who might harry or attack them, then there will be things quite legitimately to hide.
Kudos to Tom Wright! PERFECT!
People have an ugly tendency to scandalmonger and circle like vultures around others and elevate themselves by censuring the imperfections of others while forgetting their own. They will make up sins and crimes on the merest tissue of appearances.
Until that is exorcised from the human spirit, no thanks to widespread CCTV on ordinary people.
Of course, it should broadcast constantly in national, state/provincial, and local governments and law enforcement units/policepersons. Those aren’t ordinary persons. If they want this new expanded surveillance power, they will be the first to have their chokechain yanked (like the videotaping of the LA police beating of Rodney King).
Mold don’t grow in the sunshine.
anonymous:
That world is decidedly not coming. Governmental surveillance of private individuals and businesses will undoubtedly keep increasing, perhaps nearly to the level you describe, but when it comes to the government itself, obscurity of its inner workings to an ordinary private citizen will only increase.
Interesting hi tech being developed that will have the Cctv monitors monitored by a Computers – that have been programmed with software that recognized behaviour tagged as violent (using a number of different statistical variables)
After a set threshold it will Send out Alerts to Security Teams – so they can focus on the Cctv Cameras in question and validate the suspiscion.
This hi- tech will also be used to detect terrorist from a crowd – or even in casinos to detect cheaters
tagged as violent
or merely deviant. The whole surveillance culture, as an extension of the bureaucratic formulation of life into the real world, tends to punish difference. Hence Anti-Social Behaviour. Be a good little ant and appear to move randomly within the limits prescribed by the colony.