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| Britain | ||
| Traffic spies to join UK fight against crime | ||
| 2007-07-18 | ||
| The details of journeys taken by millions of motorists are to be handed to police under a government “Big Brother” plan to use road pricing technology in the fight against crime. Police would be given instant access to number plate data from “smart” cameras monitoring congestion in cities and the movement of traffic on Britain’s major roads.
But the document inadvertently released by the Home Office disclosed a much more sweeping plan for the wider use of smart camera technology in the fight against all crime rather than just terrorism. It also discloses that ministers were warned that the Metropolitan Police plan was likely to cause a “high” level of controversy. Opposition politicians and civil liberties groups expresed alarm at the wider plans and cautioned that the proposals would give the State unprecedented access to car drivers’ movements. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “With this unintended act of open government the disingenuous attitude of ministers towards public fears about a creeping surveillance State is revealed for all to see. “Bit by bit, vast computer data-bases are being made interoperable and yet the Government seems to be running scared of a full and public debate on the safeguards needed to make such information sharing acceptable.” Mr Clegg accused ministers of using the announcement that the Metropolitan Police was to get real-time access to number plate data from the congestion charge database as a basis for much more far-reaching proposals affecting millions of motorists. The London plan means that police will know the moment that a suspect vehicle enters and leaves the capital’s congestion zone but the system will only apply for operations involving “national security”.
The paper released by mistake discloses that the Home Office sees the deal with the Metropolitan Police as an “immediate solution pending the introduction of planned government agreement on proposed legislation which would allow the bulk transfer of automatic number plate recognition data from third parties to the police for all crime-fighting purposes”. Number plate data handed over to the police would allow officers to check against an existing “hot list” of vehicles on which there is intelligence. Officers would be able to track vehicles linked to individuals in whom they are interested, the paper said. It also makes clear that crime analysts would use the data to identify unknown vehicles travelling regularly with a known suspect vehicle, enabling them to identify crime suspects. Offi-cers would also be able to identify vehicles in particular geographical areas after a crime has been committed. There are 1,500 congestion charge cameras recording number plates in London and a further 1,140 operated by the Highways Agency, including 108 deployed in the West Midlands. Fifty are on the M42. | ||
| Posted by:lotp |
| #5 it is necessarily unsaid, but they merely want to track their Muzz physicians as they are on the move. And, any other Muzz who may require additional attention. They just didn't want to drop the hint. Got to remain quite proper a a Brit you know. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-07-18 16:50 |
| #4 it was bad enough before Red Ken instituted the congestion charge and the need for additional cameras. But its Bush and Cheney who are reducing our civil liberities not the left, for God's sake, they would never do that. Read where Bloomberg's proposal for congestion charging in the city went down in council. Sanity reins where idiots roam free. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-07-18 12:27 |
| #3 I often point out that the year 1984 came and went, but Orwell never considered the possibility that things would continue to become even more intrusive and obnoxious after that date. Ironically, he did consider that the language of Newspeak would continue to evolve, but not the oppression itself. Yet it is the technology of oppression that has far outstripped what we call today "spin", and instead of the terse and succinct Doublethink, we have vast amounts of empty blather, fear mongering, and projected outrage. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-18 11:22 |
| #2 Orwell had no imagination |
| Posted by: Chineper Lumplump5050 2007-07-18 09:47 |
| #1 The Brit's seem to be using 1984 as an instruction manual. Orwell must be doing about 30,000 RPM... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2007-07-18 01:13 |