DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**Aozenee** · 11-02-2006, 05:50 PM

You're entitled to your opinion Ninjahedge but please allow others to disagree without resorting to cheap personal abuse.
I really believe we need to closely scrutinise the policies of our governments and look beyond the rhetoric. As you have no doubt picked up from recent postings there are some disturbing things happening in the UK at the moment.
Local councils inserting micro-chips in wheelie bins used for domestic rubbish - no one consulted or advised about it until a resident spotted it!
An Oyster card, used for travelling in London that also tells the authorities exactly where you've travelled and when.
DNA being retained on file even though a person is totally innocent.
1 CCTV camera for every 14 residents in the UK - thats a lot of surveillance!
This may not be happening in the US but its moving at a pace in Britain.
This isn't being paranoid, this is reality and its happening without any public debate.
So you're suggesting we just keep quiet and pretend its not happening - yea, thats real sensible!!

Inserting micro-chips is an excellent way of understanding wastage. Its all moving towards a pay as you throw away system that will ensure more people recycle more and waste less. The benefit of this is that it helps the environment, lowers wastage, makes us more understanding of our lifestyle and should free up money for public transport and the like rather than finding new landfill sites and more rubbish trucks.

Oystercard is class - one card that allows me to travel on every mode of transport in London: its the future of payment of transport usage and is used in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The information gained is also exceptionally useful - now its possible to actually map the routes used by everyone on the network by the actual 'path' they take. This means management of the transport network can be handled to match journeys by people and not by entrances and exits at stations, buses, boats, trams, etc... which doesn't provide anywhere near to as accurate real-time and analytical information to plan upgrades, modernisation and new routes...and Oystercard has made that happen.

It is a lot, but then that probably includes say the cameras that monitor the platform and train doors at all platforms which allows train drivers to ensure people aren't stuck in the doors before they close or station staff to monitor incase someone falls onto the tracks. Considering that there are 600 heavy rail stations, thousands of platforms and a camera for each door (so upwards of 6 cameras per platform) and thats already tens of thousands of cameras. I'd also bet that the figure includes cameras in night clubs to ensure trouble starters are noticed quickly and that no drug dealing takes place. Shops, the tens of thousands of traffic cams in London alone (eg for the Congestion Charge or at all traffic junctions or speed cameras), etc....

I personally see no problem - the systems are all seperate and its very hard for the authorities to even get permission to access other networks which make up the majority of CCTV. Same for the DNA database - more success, higher successful and accurate conviction rates ensure less innocent and mistaken people end up in jail than elsewhere in the world.

All in all its a good progression for the country - its bringing in more healthy, education (and attractive) ladies and gentlemen and those that are leaving tend to be the elderly aiming for a retirement home, foreign students and gap year students returning home, and uneducated chavs and wanted criminals. No loss here marksix, but can't really say the same for your eventual destination though!

11-02-2006, 05:50 PM	#13
Aozenee Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 414 Senior Member	You're entitled to your opinion Ninjahedge but please allow others to disagree without resorting to cheap personal abuse. I really believe we need to closely scrutinise the policies of our governments and look beyond the rhetoric. As you have no doubt picked up from recent postings there are some disturbing things happening in the UK at the moment. Local councils inserting micro-chips in wheelie bins used for domestic rubbish - no one consulted or advised about it until a resident spotted it! An Oyster card, used for travelling in London that also tells the authorities exactly where you've travelled and when. DNA being retained on file even though a person is totally innocent. 1 CCTV camera for every 14 residents in the UK - thats a lot of surveillance! This may not be happening in the US but its moving at a pace in Britain. This isn't being paranoid, this is reality and its happening without any public debate. So you're suggesting we just keep quiet and pretend its not happening - yea, thats real sensible!! Inserting micro-chips is an excellent way of understanding wastage. Its all moving towards a pay as you throw away system that will ensure more people recycle more and waste less. The benefit of this is that it helps the environment, lowers wastage, makes us more understanding of our lifestyle and should free up money for public transport and the like rather than finding new landfill sites and more rubbish trucks. Oystercard is class - one card that allows me to travel on every mode of transport in London: its the future of payment of transport usage and is used in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The information gained is also exceptionally useful - now its possible to actually map the routes used by everyone on the network by the actual 'path' they take. This means management of the transport network can be handled to match journeys by people and not by entrances and exits at stations, buses, boats, trams, etc... which doesn't provide anywhere near to as accurate real-time and analytical information to plan upgrades, modernisation and new routes...and Oystercard has made that happen. It is a lot, but then that probably includes say the cameras that monitor the platform and train doors at all platforms which allows train drivers to ensure people aren't stuck in the doors before they close or station staff to monitor incase someone falls onto the tracks. Considering that there are 600 heavy rail stations, thousands of platforms and a camera for each door (so upwards of 6 cameras per platform) and thats already tens of thousands of cameras. I'd also bet that the figure includes cameras in night clubs to ensure trouble starters are noticed quickly and that no drug dealing takes place. Shops, the tens of thousands of traffic cams in London alone (eg for the Congestion Charge or at all traffic junctions or speed cameras), etc.... I personally see no problem - the systems are all seperate and its very hard for the authorities to even get permission to access other networks which make up the majority of CCTV. Same for the DNA database - more success, higher successful and accurate conviction rates ensure less innocent and mistaken people end up in jail than elsewhere in the world. All in all its a good progression for the country - its bringing in more healthy, education (and attractive) ladies and gentlemen and those that are leaving tend to be the elderly aiming for a retirement home, foreign students and gap year students returning home, and uneducated chavs and wanted criminals. No loss here marksix, but can't really say the same for your eventual destination though!
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