Saw something on the news tonight that made my heart sink...

[PlanetBev]

On NBC Nightly News, there was a story about the telescreens in Great Britain. There are about four million of them to date, and in Middlebury, they bark out orders at you. They have speakers that tell you to break up a fight, pick up rubbish and cigarette butts and various other things to keep things "in order".

The guy that came up with this genius idea said that they'll be all over England in the next few years, and in the U.S. in five years. If somebody told me that Americans would stand for this six years ago, I'd have told them they were crazy.

Now I'm not so sure. There has been nary a peep from the citizens of Middlebury about this. And this is from the land of George Orwell.

I fear soon, we'll all become Winston Smith.

[Thickasabrick]

1. People will shoot them here. Not as many guns in GB.

[peacetalksforall]

4. Will all couch huggers in this country jump? What if they're at

the airport and Anderson Cooper is telling them to keep their feet under their seat? Or not take up two seats.

[Spiffarino]

8. Let's hope so

If this is true, I'll be stocking up ammo for my slingshot.

[loves_dulcinea]

18. slingshots are cheap and easy.

[Howardx]

25. covered in graffiti

overnight

[knitter4democracy]

38. I had the same thought.

Heck, in my hometown, a family that flew the UofM flag kept having to replace it after it would get shot up to ribbons until they wised up and flew the American flag above it. If people are that passionate about a sports team, they'll not take kindly to this kind of thing. It sounds like they'd be begging to replace them every month.

[niallmac]

2. Ever since I saw Clockwork Orange I assumed that England

had a special talent for leading the way in this regard. We in the U.S. are
proving to be no slouches ourselves.

[knowbody0]

3. does this mean these 4 million

telescrenes are being watched by humans all the time? Sounds like millions of new jobs! :sarcasm:

[PlanetBev]

5. Ooooow, knowbody....

rimshot comin' 'right 'atcha...

[boolean]

6. What's up with the UK? Any UKers here wanna clear things up?

I've heard/read countless stories about how things are in the UK.

Is it really true that it has become the biggest nanny state in the democratized world? I hear things like this all the time. All sorts of idiotic laws on the books there...Need a license to own a TV?!

How much of this is true and how much is bull?

[Greeby]

9. The TV License is to fund the BBC

TV licenses are all over Europe, and their main purpose is to fund public television and radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_license

Although given the crap that passes for entertainment in most BBC programming, I'm glad my old man is the one who has to pay it.



Back to the issue at hand. I wouldn't worry. In most urban areas in this country, if it's nailed down, someone will smash it. If it isn't, someone will nick it

[LeftishBrit]

39. The TV license is a money issue, not a nanny-state issue

It's not like a drivers' license - they don't test or screen you for your right to own a TV(!); it's more like a sales-tax that you pay as a contribution to publicly funded television and radio. I'd rather pay the license-fee and have the BBC than have someone like Rupert Murdoch or some similar businessman or organization in total control of large parts of what I can watch.

Blair and his super-managerial colleagues do try to micro-manage a lot of things that they shouldn't; but most British people have a healthy resistance to being micro-managed. I am sure that most people will disregard and ignore the telescreens; and that the rowdy youngsters, who are probably the main intended targets, will vandalize them, and then they will not be repaired that quickly. It's all one of those 'bright' managerial ideas that won't work in any sense, and will be abandoned after quite a bit of money is wasted. I don't see it as a serious threat.

ETA: just read Greeby's post - seems that great minds think pretty much alike!

[PlanetBev]

7. I used to dream about escaping to England...

Not now. If those things ever came to this country, I would buy a piece just to shoot out one of those screens.

[ellenfl]

13. make sure you wear your 'v' mask when you do it. eom

[PlanetBev]

14. I just saw "V" today

Amazing...and bone-chilling timely.

[quiet.american]

10. I can't wait to give one the finger. n/t

[Howardx]

26. yeah you got that right

im tired of all this fear shit, if i get picked up by the authorities so be it

[madmusic]

11. 1666 Destruction of Government Property -- 18 U.S.C. § 1361

Section 1361 protects "any property" of the United States or an agency or department thereof, or any property being manufactured or constructed for the United States or an agency or department thereof, from willful depredation or attempted depredation.

"Depredation" has been characterized as the act of plundering, robbing, pillaging or laying waste. United States v. Jenkins, 554 F.2d 783, 786 (6th Cir. 1977); cf. Deal v. United States, 274 U.S. 277, 283 (1927) ("depredation" defined in context of postal statute).

This section prohibits actual physical damage or destruction of both real and personal property, but mere adverse possession of that property without physical harm is insufficient to violate the law. United States v. Jenkins, supra, 554 F.2d at 785. Section 1361 is a specific intent crime, see United States v. Jones, 607 F.2d 269, 273-74 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1085 (1980), and the government must prove that the defendant acted willfully; that is intentionally, with knowledge that he/she is violating a law. United States v. Simpson, 460 F.2d 515, 518 (9th Cir. 1972); United States v. Moylan, 417 F.2d 1002, 1004 (4th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 910 (1970).

The government is not required to prove that defendant knew the property belonged to the government, because government ownership is "merely a 'jurisdictional fact'." United States v. LaPorta, 46 F.3d 152, 158 (2d Cir. 1994), quoting United States v. Feola, 420 U.S. 671 (1975). In fact, title or possession by the United States is not a necessary element of this offense, if the property in question was being made for the United States. The government must present evidence establishing value of damage. United States v. Seaman, 18 F.3d 649, 651 (9th Cir. 1994). The penalties for violations of this section are tied to the extent of the property damage. As amended on September 13, 1994, if the damage exceeds $100, the defendant is subject to a fine of up to $250,000, ten years imprisonment, or both. See Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103-322, § 330016, 108 Stat. 1796, 2146-47 (1994). When property damage does not exceed $100, the offense is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $100,000, one year imprisonment, or both. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 3559(a), 3571.

Not that that should stop anyone. The tree of liberty needs the blood of a few cameras now and then. Feed me! Feed me!

[StellaBlue]

12. check this out

www.banksy.co.uk



He also did a great installation street piece consisting of an existing CCTV camera, to which he affixed realistic fake crows sporting a pirate flag, cutting the wires on the camera and defacing it. But I can't find a picture of that online.

[ellenfl]

15. here it is. top right 2 photos . . .

Banksy

ellen fl

[StellaBlue]

17. awesome, thanks!

my friend in london sent me the banksy book for my birthday and I LOVE this shit

[bananas]

19. Talk about the elephant in the living room...

[bananas]

20. holy crap

How come I never saw these before?
Who is this guy?

[StellaBlue]

24. it's a mysssssstery hahaha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy

[alittlelark]

16. We have an Albertsons w/ plasma screens at every checkout

and a few others for good measure - I have not entered it since I first saw them (a couple of years ago). It creeped me out to the Nth degree.


There are still a lot of cars in the parking lot. This is ULTRA BLUE Silicon Valley, in MEGA ULTRA Blue Los Altos.


I get creeped out whenever I pass it (Foothill Expressway).

[bananas]

21. They aren't too bad

as long as you boycott the self-serve checkout lanes.
No matter how long the human cashier line is,
be sure to scowl at anybody using the borg machines,
it works, I didn't realize I was in a borg check-out line
until I wondered why people were scowling at me.

They also have telescreens over the fresh produce section,
showing excerpts from the cooking channel.
That's probably a good thing,
since so many people are such lousy cooks.

[alittlelark]

28. Are you in the Bay Area?

[bananas]

29. No, San Diego. nt

[VeggieTart]

22. If I remember correctly, it's happening in DC

It's in some project neighborhood, and these voices from who knows where scream at people for sitting on the stoop, leaning in the window to talk to a neighbor (or a kid talks to a parent through the window) or doing anything to enjoy the neighborhood. The residents all find it incredibly obnoxious, as do I.

[Gloria]

23. A few weeks ago I posted an article from the Independent (I think)

in the World Media Watch which detailed how many new laws Blair and Company have inflicted on the British Public. It was a number that was way above anything in the past. Among these are all this "social" laws aimed at keeping everyone in line, apparently. The story didn't mention the telescreens, however.

[Solo_in_MD]

27. The Brits have pretty well bent over to thier government

and the amount of nanny state behavior is appalling, starting with "mind the gap".

There was some hope of protest when it came to GATSOs. There were some who were destroying them and also taking pictures of the cops breaking the portable GATSO rules. Also at least one character who was cutting boots off of vehicles, who had become a local hero of sorts.

I am afraid that the motherland has been cowed.

[RiDuvessa]

30. Repulsive.

This is the government's logical step up from having cameras everywhere. The first time this happens in the States, we need to get the ACLU to throw up a suit against it. This is about as Big Brother as it gets.

[readmoreoften]

31. Are you sure it was NBC? I can't find it. I really would like to watch it.

[Karenca]

32. They have already planted one on my block this summer. nt

[readmoreoften]

33. On ABC; found it. Will give link in a bit. /nt

[readmoreoften]

34. here's the link

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2508521&page=1

[NMMNG]

35. But if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about

:sarcasm:

[randomelement]

36. Got a computer with built-in microphone and webcam?

..... if so, then you're already being watched/listened to ......

:yoiks:

[rug]

37. I'm going to get a dog just to piss on the lamposts these speakers are on.