'Spy Chips' Hidden In 2.6 Million Trashbins Aim To Tax Those Who Toss Too Much

[babylonsister]

:wtf:

'Spy Chips' Hidden In 2.6 Million Trashbins Aim To Tax Those Who Toss Too Much

GREGORY KATZ | 03/ 5/10 02:02 PM | AP


LONDON — It's the new front in the nanny state: Microchips placed in garbage bins to monitor how much people throw away.

A pro-privacy group warns in a new report that more than 2.6 million of the chips have been surreptitiously installed in what is seen as a first step toward charging those who toss too much.

Proponents say it's a bid to push recycling. Opponents say it stinks.

"They should mind their own business," said Terry Williams, an unemployed Londoner who thinks the government is meddling. "I believe they have gone too far. It's not like we are throwing away anything that is illegal."

The advocacy group Big Brother Watch found through a series of Freedom of Information requests that many local governments, called councils in Britain, are installing the microchips in trash cans distributed to households, but in most cases have not yet activated them – in part because officials know the move would be unpopular.

"They are waiting for the political climate to change before they start using them," said campaign director Dylan Sharpe, who predicted that families that produce large amounts of garbage would be fined.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/06/spy-chips-hidden-in-26-mi_n_488801.html

[Oregone]

1. People will quickly learn to dispose of garbage on the sidewalks and alleyways.

[RedCloud]

2. What if someone pees on them? Will they still work?

Sort of like Viet Nam and those tracking devices perhaps.

[anonymous171]

3. Sounds like a doubleplusungood idea to me. nt

[sharp_stick]

4. That's England for you

there is nothing resembling privacy personal responsibility left over there. You can't even buy butter knives unless you are over 18.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. Oh, bullshit. n/t

[sharp_stick]

19. Really?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4420000/newsid_4425200/4425214.stm

England has become the queen mother of nanny states. Oops, on edit I should say it's the UK not England as the nanny state has grown to include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Also on edit: I should have noted that it's kids that can't buy butter knives. At this point in time, those over the age of 18 are considered safe for knife buying.

[JackRiddler]

5. Producing these chips is an environmental crime in itself.

[Sherman A1]

6. One could have just soooo much fun with these

Just consider the possibilities...

[Confusious]

7. Sounds like a bullshit story to me

How do the chips get power? how do the chips monitor usage? freedom of information act is a US thing.

Is this the onion?

[IDemo]

12. No bs

The chips don't contain batteries, they are powered up by the radio energy used to read them. See http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=47

And, the chips themselves only contain an ID number, they don't store data. The weight of the recyclables (and whether the service address is even recycling this week) would be stored on the truck for later downloading into the database or relayed wirelessly in realtime.

Our bin has been chipped since last summer, and there are several other US cities using the technology.

http://www.recyclebank.com/how-it-works

[ashling]

8. This was actually to help police locate stolen garbage

The idea came from the onstar commercial where the stolen car is located and then the engine is cut off remotely so the police can catch the perpetrators.

The police plan on putting this on sewage mains next ... they claim that too many people are having their shit stolen.

film at eleven.

:rofl:

[CreekDog]

9. .

[pipi_k]

13. Never assume you know what's in the bag....

Gave my daughter a car and she cleaned my stuff out said she would put it in a bag outside the back door of her apartment for me to take.

I found the bag and took it home in the backseat of another car I had bought.

Started smelling something foul but didn't think anything of it...got home and opened the bag and found...yes...garbage.

and the kicker was, it wasn't even my daughter's garbage. It was her neighbor's.

We still laugh about the day I "stole" Hilda's garbage.

:7

[TheMadMonk]

10. Think about it for a bit peoples.

A significant part of the waste stream is created because far too many folks are too fucking lazy to use the recycling bins already provided to them. And a significant part of the recyling stream is contaminated by arseholes who couldn't give a toss which bin they chuck soiled nappys and used sanitary products into.

These chips are nothing but RFIDs which identifiy the property each bin belongs to. Combined with cameras and scales mounted on the trucks, it becomes possible to identify those who fuck things up for the rest of us and first warn them and then if they persist, punish them as they damned well should be.

The point of introducing systems such as these is not to punish people for being a little bit over due to a kid's birthday party that week. It's to catch out egregious systematic abusers of the domestic waste distposal system.

[XemaSab]

11. Though I consider myself a hardcore environmentalist

I can see how this would be a problem for moms with young kids, or older people who have trouble cooking for themselves.

I think the new generation will grow up recycling, and these problems will just sort themselves out within a few years.

[Retrograde]

15. my town uses a low-tech way of doing this

One weekly pickup of one garbage can is included in the basic utilities rate, which you have to have. Anything above that costs $$$ more - but they'll pick up as much recycling, including garden debris, as you can put out. The end result is the same: recycle or pay more.

[Aaria]

16. It would seem that the Brits know how to handle little annoyances

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm
They have been taking care of speed trap cameras for a while.

[HippieCowgirl]

17. Pff. They'll be hacked within 24 hours of those chips hitting the street. (nt)

[gristy]

18. This story makes no sense. None at all.

At my city, we pay for a bin. The city empties the bin once a week. A bigger bin costs more. A smaller bin costs less. Same result. No microchip.

Snopes is all over this, I imagine.

[Echo In Light]

20. What absolute bull. shit. Big Bro needs to fuck right off

[Jennicut]

21. Stupidest idea ever. This will not make people recycle more, it will lead

to more litter on the ground though.