Empty Seats at the London Olympics

[darmstadt]

Troops have now been ordered to fill empty seats. You couldn't make that up

Not are only the UK populace the most spied upon people but continuing in the totalitarian state that it seems to be turning into, you have this. Look at pictures of countries that were behind the Iron Curtain or other dictatorships and what do you see? Yep, soldiers sitting in the empty seats...

[d000hg]

Not are only the UK populace the most spied upon people

Please do feel free to cite supporting evidence for that stunningly idiotic claim.

[darmstadt]

Please do feel free to cite supporting evidence for that stunningly idiotic claim.

To start:

The number of CCTV cameras in the UK is not known for certain because there is no requirement to register CCTV cameras. However, an article published in CCTV Image magazine estimates that the number of cameras in the UK is 1.85 million. The number is based on extrapolating from a comprehensive survey of public and private cameras within the Cheshire Constabulary jurisdiction. This works out as an average of one camera for every 32 people in the UK, although the density of cameras varies from place to place to such a degree as to make this figure almost meaningless. The Cheshire report also claims that the average person on a typical day would be seen by 70 CCTV cameras, although many of these sightings would be brief glimpses from cameras in shops.

The Cheshire figure is regarded as more dependable than a previous study by Michael McCahill and Clive Norris of UrbanEye published in 2002. Based on a small sample in Putney High Street, McCahill and Norris estimated the number of surveillance cameras in private premises in London at around 500,000 and the total number of cameras in the UK at around 4,200,000. According to their estimate the UK has one camera for every 14 people. Although it has been acknowledged for several years that the methodology behind this figure is somewhat dubious, it has continued to be quoted in the absence of a better figure.

The CCTV User Group estimates that there are around 1.5 million CCTV cameras in city centres, stations, airports, major retail areas and so forth. This figure does not include the smaller surveillance systems such as those that may be found in local corner shops and is therefore broadly in line with the Cheshire report.

Then there were the recent press reports intimating that schoolchildren should report tax dodgers...

[d000hg]

You said MOST spied upon. I'm awaiting your statistics about North Korea...

[darmstadt]

You said MOST spied upon. I'm awaiting your statistics about North Korea...

Okay, shouldn't have said MOST and also should have said 'Western Democracy,' but still:

The clear objective of Cameron’s government is to silence anyone or any organisation that at a later date may try to stand up against injustice and corruption within the government. The very fact that these new powers are being given to the police, rather than being reserved exclusively to the security services, demonstrates the fact that the police have now become a kind of “state police” rather than fulfilling their original objective of policing “by consent”.

The British are already the most spied upon nation in the world, even more so than the Americans. There are more CCTV cameras in Britain than in the whole of the rest of the EU put together and we have the tightest controls on movements in and out of the country, limits on social interaction and more criminal legislation than any other European country.

The reality is that once the legislation is in place, everyone in the UK will have all their contacts monitored by the government, whether they be children or adults, criminals or law abiding citizens.

In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to “maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes”.

“It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public,” a spokesman said.

“As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows to ensure that the use of communications data is compatible with the government’s approach to civil liberties.”

It is clear now what is meant by “the government’s approach to civil liberties.”. The government obviously believes that we should not have any.

The population of the UK still believe that they live in a free society when, in fact, they live in the most politically controlled environment in Europe. Not only has Britain become a slave of America but now the British are becoming slaves of their own government and seem content to allow that situation to continue and to further evolve.

And I thought the USA was bad...