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Cameras surveill brits 300 times daily now talking Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/04/ncctv104.xml http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/04/ncctv104.xml Talking CCTV gives Big Brother a voice By Laura Clout Last Updated: 1:58am BST 05/04/2007 Britain is already one of the most watched nations on earth and now "talking" CCTV cameras are to be installed in 20 areas across the country. 'Talking' CCTV plans unveiled Britain is believed to have 20 per cent of the world's CCTV cameras already The loudspeakers will allow CCTV operators to bark orders at people committing anti-social behaviour. They are already used in Middlesbrough, where council workers in a control centre can monitor pictures from 12 cameras in town and communicate directly with people on the street. Supporters of the scheme there say it has prevented fights and criminal damage, and cut litter levels. John Reid, the Home Secretary, has set aside nearly £500,000 to fund the expansion of the scheme, which opponents have criticised as "Big Brother gone mad". Mr Reid said: "The new funding for talking CCTV is aimed at the small minority who think it is acceptable to litter our streets, vandalise our communities and damage our properties. We all pay council tax so in the end we all pay when our communities are disrespected - both in our pockets as well as in our daily lives." Competitions are being held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the "voice" of CCTV cameras, Mr Reid said. "Local communities are rightly fed up with littering and anti-social behaviour - they want to remind people about what is, and is not, respectful behaviour," he said. "By funding and supporting these local schemes, the Government is encouraging children to send this clear message to grown ups: act anti-socially and you will face the shame of being publicly embarrassed." According to recent studies, Britain has 4.2million CCTV cameras - one for every 14 people in the country - which amounts to 20 per cent of the global camera total. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. This is despite a Home Office report published four years ago which concluded that better street lighting was seven times more effective than CCTV at cutting crime. The study suggested CCTV cut crime by 4 per cent overall and just 2 per cent in urban areas, while improved lighting in public spaces reduced crime by 30 per cent. The exception was car parks, where CCTV led to a significant 41 per cent fall in crime, the report added. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, gave a stark warning last year that Britain is turning into a Big Brother society where the lives of millions of inhabitants are tracked from cradle to grave. A study commissioned by his office concluded that within 10 years, surveillance will be all-pervasive, spurred on by Government claims that it is needed to fight terrorism. The report appeared to reinforce Mr Thomas' claim two years earlier that "we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society''. The 20 areas which have received grants for Talking CCTV proposals are: Southwark; Barking and Dagenham; Reading; Harlow; Norwich; Ipswich; Plymouth; Gloucester; Derby; Northampton; Mansfield; Nottingham; Coventry; Sandwell; Wirral; Blackpool; Salford; Middlesbrough; South Tyneside; and Darlington.

Big brother spies in britain Britain waking up to surveillance society all around { November 2 2006 } Cameras around cities wired into home land security { June 27 2005 } Cameras check all cars and drivers in florida town Cameras surveill brits 300 times daily now talking Federal grant bring surveillance cameras to small towns { January 19 2006 } More schools turning to security cameras { November 12 2003 } New hampshire dismisses police state red light cameras New york city orders 505 surveillance cameras Phoenix school face scanners spot sex offenders Security cameras tape kids undressing Va face recognition camera { January 12 2003 } Files Listed: 12

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