statism watch

Any comment from our English readers would be appreciated – how many Londoners buy this?

Flashback: Top Canadian court to decide whether trash is private

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
March 25, 2009

Looking back at Big Brother cameras is also terrorism

A new London Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism campaign is encouraging law abiding citizens to look through each others’ bins to check for “suspicious” items such as chemical bottles, and to report any troubling findings to the police.

“Don’t rely on others. If you suspect it report it,” the Metropolitan Police press release states.

“Londoners are being asked to trust their instincts and report suspicious behaviour to help combat terrorist activity.”

The posters will be displayed in newspapers, at tube and rail stations as well as on the back of buses. A suitably Stasi-like radio ad has also been produced.

A second poster has been produced outlining how returning the ever-watching gaze of one of the 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK should also be considered suspicious behaviour.

Staring back at big brother is a no-no, the authorities can watch you but you cannot look back at them – you must practice cognitive dissonance or engage in “doublethink” as Orwell called it, pretending that the cameras are not even there.

This is somewhat difficult to avoid, however, considering there is one camera for every 14 people in Britain.

A post on BoingBoing.net highlights the insidious and disturbing nature of this campaign:

Even worse, though, is the idea that you should report your neighbors to the police for looking at the creepy surveillance technology around them. This is the first step in making it illegal to debate whether the surveillance state is a good or bad thing. It’s the extension of the ridiculous airport rule that prohibits discussing the security measures (”Exactly how does 101 ml of liquid endanger a plane?”), conflating it with “making jokes about bombs.”

The British authorities are bent on driving fear into the hearts of Britons: fear of terrorists, immigrants, pedophiles, children, knives… And once people are afraid enough, they’ll write government a blank check to expand its authority without sense or limit.

The Met Police campaign follows a similar line of previous anti-terror initiatives, encouraging citizens to become Stasi-like operatives, mistrustful of everyone around them and ready to report each other at the drop of a hat.

A 2007 campaign, which we covered in detail, urged the public to be mindful of anyone who uses a phone, carries a bag, drives a van or takes pictures with a camera, because they may be terrorists.

A 2006 campaign consisted of five different posters designed to drill it into the minds of all Londoners that anyone they know could be a terrorist and they should report anything they don’t like the look of to the authorities.

These kind of campaigns would be fitting in Stalinist Russia or Cold War East Germany.

Even before the London bombings, we were subjected to the same kind of propaganda.

In 2003 We were treated to the “Watchful Eyes” campaign with all seeing eyes in the sky above an iconic London bus. We were told that Big Brother was watching and keeping us all safe.

In March 2004, I wrote “It seems that London is gearing up for a major terrorist attack very soon.” as it became increasingly apparent that the fear factor was being upped considerably.

The “Life Savers” campaign featured a number of different posters, one for each different race, that encouraged us to report any suspicious activity. It also rather ominously directed our attention to the London Underground and unattended bags.

Just over a year later in 2005, the July 7th Transport bombings took place.

Once again I feel the same kind of pervading atmosphere all around the city.

Headlines warn of an impending dirty bomb attack, with the Home Office urging that the country is at an increased risk of attack from nuclear and chemical devices.

The Home Secretary has stated that an event is very likely to occur soon, while revealing the details of a major new initiative, known as CONTEST TWO, which will see 60,000 security guards, train conductors, store managers and the like trained by MI5 as part a civilian network of “terrorist” spotters, a practice the security services have been engaged in for sometime previous to last weekend’s announcement.

These anti-terror campaigns do nothing substantive to prevent terrorism and only encourage fear and suspicion of everyone and everything amongst the British public. They are a huge waste of funding and above all are community dividing and socially destructive.

Source | See Also under Surveillance: Google Street View comes to Canada | Right to privacy broken by a quarter of UK’s public databases, says report | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | Pre-Olympic transit ads encourage citizen surveillance | Security certificate detainee requests prison over intrusions on family | Smart licences now available for border-hopping Quebecers | Homeland Security seeks Bladerunner-style lie detector | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Internet ad tracking system will put a ’spy camera’ in the homes of millions, warns founder of the web | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | TASER launches new headcam for police – with ‘privacy mode’ | French government accused of ‘Big Brother’ tactics over internet piracy | UK police maintain databank on thousands of protesters | Military may patrol bar zone in Barrie | UK: Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public | UK: Government ‘using fear as a weapon to erode civil liberties’ | Obama tries to kill lawsuit challenging wiretapping program, fails | UK security whitepaper urges ‘end of privacy’| Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | US Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Schools seek more police as crime drops | Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | UK: Calling the police to account for anti-photography law | UK: Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub | The Spy Factory: The New Thought Police| New law to give police access to online exchanges | Security cameras proposed for downtown Sydney | Obama’s Change: Expanding the Power of the NSC and Shadow Government | UK House of Lords warns over ’surveillance state’ | Electronic immunization records needed: Toronto health official | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | UK Terror Law To Make Photographing Police Illegal | Montreal in bid to unmask protesters | Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records | UK-Irish travellers to face passport checks | Let’s face it, soon Big Brother will have no trouble recognising you | U.S. visitors now required to register online with Department of Homeland Security | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | Regulator will force cellphone companies to adopt GPS tracking system | Military challenge: Make spy data more accessible | EU Police set to step up warrantless hacking of home PCs | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase pending review | CSIS monitoring calls between suspects and their lawyers| Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Supreme Court set to consider privacy rights | Has your child been CAFed? How the Government plans to record intimate information on every child in Britain | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | Cyberbullying verdict turns rule-breakers into criminals | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | London musicians expected to disclose ethnicity, 8 pages of personal information to perform | Canada backpedals on sharing ID database with U.S. | Former US congresswoman, presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney barred from boarding plane to human rights conference | Retired B.C. woman surprised to find herself on international no-fly list | Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring | Queen’s proposed thought-crime cadres prove controversial | Tribunal shouldn’t police online hate, report says | U.S. air-security rules cause Canadian turbulence | Social services set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom | IMF: G20 meeting underscores need for greater surveillance, changes in global governance | Coming soon to your cellphone: Your credit card via RFID chip | Flaherty calls for mandatory IMF surveillance | Halifax thinks again about subjecting applicants to lie-detector tests | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Parents, children to be fingerprinted at initial 250+ nursery schools in UK | Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street, vendors say face scanning next | Germany rejects full-body scans at airports | US military targets social nets | Homeland Security Assuming Broad Powers, Turning Swaths of U.S. into “Constitution-Free Zone”| Interpol wants facial recognition database to catch suspects | UK Shortly to Become Worse Surveillance Society than Stasi East Germany | Feds give customs agents free hand to seize travelers’ documents | ‘Pre-crime’ detector shows promise | American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence | Troops in the Streets: Army Brigades Standing By to Assist in Disasters, Help Quell Dissent | Two trustees stand opposed to armed police in schools | How Big Brother watches your every move | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | Secret EU security draft risks uproar with call to pool policing and give US personal data | Vision 2015: Consolidation of U.S. Intelligence Into Global Intel Network | U.S. border agents given power to seize travellers’ laptops, cellphones | Saskatchewan adopting US-mandated ID card, to include RFID chip, facial recognition | Eye scans, fingerprints to control NZ borders | UK Surveillance Commissioner calls for intelligence officers to work with municipalities | Britain considers giant database of all phone calls, EMails, browsing history | Bush approves surveillance bill | Air Canada objects to US plans to fingerprint exiting foreigners | Air passengers to undergo ‘virtual strip search’ | Sweden approves wiretapping law | Could humiliation be the next weapon in our war on crime? | Ottawa Proposes Band-Aid ‘Bill of Rights’ for Airline Travellers | Opposition to proposed Swedish surveillance law mounts | Sweden sets sights on new ‘catch and release’ wiretap law | Mobile Phone Users Secretly Tracked for Behaviorist Study | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | US Homeland Security Keen on ‘Novel’ Israeli Airport Security Technology | Tanks, Face-Scanning Cameras Part of ‘Discreet’ 2010 Games Security | Secretive Canadian spy agency to get $62-million HQ | Ontario Privacy Czar Worried about High-Tech Licences | Criticism for ‘UK database’ plan | Border ‘two-headed monster,’ industry minister says | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | PM voices concerns about ‘thickening’ of U.S. border | Airport scanner a ‘virtual strip search’ | U.S. to collect DNA at border | Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier — Congress Reacts | Surveillance cameras to keep an eye on downtown Calgary | Canada on way to brave new world of surveillance | Canada working with FBI on ’server in the sky’ | FBI wants instant access to British, Canadian identity data | Privacy issues surround planned TTC cameras | Listening in on the enemy: Canada’s master eavesdroppers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 7:48 pm and is filed under culture, privacy, surveillance, terror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.