1984 has come to pass.....

[Daremo]

.....and the UK is the first to fall. I quote from WIRED:

As an ex-Brit, I’m well aware of the authorities’ love of surveillance and snooping, but even I, a pessimistic cynic, am amazed by the governments latest plan: to install Orwell’s telescreens in 20,000 homes. £400 million ($668 million) will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government’s “children’s secretary” Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.

It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army, incredibly not called “Thought Police”, which will “be sent round to carry out home checks,” according to the Sunday Express. And in a scheme which firmly cements the nation’s reputation as a “nanny state”, the kids and their families will be forced to sign “behavior contracts” which will “set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.”

And remember, this is the left-wing government. The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, batting for the conservatives, thinks these plans are “too little, and too late,” implying that even more obtrusive work needs to be done.

This is absolutely abhorrent to me. Putting Big Brother in anybody's home is absolutely Orwellian and, to me, EVIL.

[pukn]

Wow, scary and amazing that people would actually allow that kind of invasion of privacy. I'd tell the government to kiss my ass!

And I thought we had it bad over here when people are trying to outlaw being able to spank your kids for disciplinarian issues. What the fuck are we doing to ourselves?

[PixieDevil]

That absolutely terrifies me. I can't understand how anyone can just go along with this quietly. I am absolutely amazed that there hasn't been a huge cry of outrage over this.

I think if they tried to do that in my home I'd get my guns and head for the hills. Civilization isn't worth that type of evil and intrusion.

[SpoofedEx]

W-O-A-H
You sure this post wasn't supposed to be made on april 1st? But I'm quite sure they're not allowed to do this without consent of the inhabitants. And people actually allow that? Me, too, I wouldn't accept this. I'd sue the government blind if they'd try to do something like this in my house.

[pukn]

Is that the difference between citizens and subjects?

[MrsMo]

W-O-A-H
You sure this post wasn't supposed to be made on april 1st? But I'm quite sure they're not allowed to do this without consent of the inhabitants. And people actually allow that? Me, too, I wouldn't accept this. I'd sue the government blind if they'd try to do something like this in my house.That was my first reaction - No, they wouldn't really do that, would they? - but now I don't think it's a joke. I don't know if the agency is getting permission but I'm willing to bet that they're threatening the parents that if the parents don't accept the surveillance the government will take their children; I would hope that if a government agency tried this kind of surveillance here there would be riots in the streets.

[Daremo]

Not to feel left out - this contribution from the Chinese (Quoted from The Register and Reuters)

China's anti-internet addiction industry has claimed another victim, after supervisors at a rehabilitation camp allegedly beat a 16 year old inmate to death.

Deng Senshan had been sent to Guangxi Qihuang Survival Training Camp to "cure" him of his internet addiction, the AFP reports. His parents were paying $1000 for the treatment.

However, the youth ended up in solitary confinement shortly after arriving at the establishment, and was subsequently beaten to death by supervisors for "running too slowly", according to the news agency.

Local police confirmed they were investigating the death of a high school student, allegedly at the hands of his supervisors.

China is in the grip of acute paranoia over the threat of internet addiction to its youth. Efforts to cure the young of their affliction range from the bizarre to the brutal, by way of out and out quackery.

Last month the government banned the use of electric shock treatment to cure young people of their web lust.

The crackdown followed controversy over the techniques plied by Doctor "Uncle" Yang Yongxin in Shandong province, who had been pushing a combination of electro-shock courses to his young charges, alongside psychotropic drugs and boot camp type exercises, and charging their parents $805 a month, Reuters reports.
Well at least the Brits don't beat you to death - they just plant CCTV in your home. I guess that says something about the two cultures -- hands on vs voyeuristic

[Daremo]

Let's not leave out us Yanks either (quoted from Slashdot)


Playing with video games can lead to hard time, just ask Matthew Lloyd Crippen.

The Cal State Fullerton student was arrested Monday on federal charges that he illegally modified Xbox, Playstation, Wii and other video game consoles to enable the machines to play pirated video games.

Crippen, 27, of Anaheim, was taken into custody Monday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The arrest follows his indictment by a federal grand jury on two counts of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Specifically, the college student is accused of modifying for personal financial gain technology affecting control or access to a copyrighted work, according to an ICE statement.

Each criminal count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The charges against Crippen stem from an ICE investigation initiated late last year after the agency received a tip from the Entertainment Software Association.

Last May, ICE agents executed a federal search warrant at Crippen's home, where they seized more than a dozen Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony video game consoles.

“Playing with games in this way is not a game -- it is criminal,” said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of the ICE investigations office in Los Angeles.

“Piracy, counterfeiting and other intellectual property rights violations not only cost U.S. businesses jobs and billions of dollars a year in lost revenue, they can also pose significant health and safety risks to consumers,” he said.
"We have met the enemy and he is us"
-Pogo (Walt Kelly)

[MrsMo]

What the hell is wrong with these people and why are the every-day, common folks putting up with this crap? Has the whole human race gone crazy? We're spying on people in their own home, imprisoning people for changing the settings on machines they own and finally, beating kids to death because they like playing on the internet more than their parent's want them to! When will this hysteria end and how do we help bring some sanity back?

[TreeFrog]

Believe non of what you hear and half of what you see.. I guess this is just the tip of the iceberg !! We never hear what is really going on do we.

Speaking of claw. Did anyone see the U2 Claw.. Oh ya context.. "1984 beware of the savage claw"
Its a line from Tina Turners Track: 1984 I guess its about the Gorge Orwell's 1984. have to say I never read it.

[MrsMo]

George Orwell's 1984 should be mandatory reading in for every student. The whole concept is so frightening and yet so possible - especially if the average citizen just sits back and accepts everything the government tells them at face value. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend getting a copy and taking the time to read it. It's not a long book and not terribly difficult, just very frightening.

[pukn]

As long as we're starting a Book club, you might as well throw "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

In it, he describes the perfect negative utopia. Its a good read.

[TreeFrog]

Books.. have to say I'm really picky about what I read, but while one the subject of what people recommend for everyone.

The Source
http://www.amazon.com/Source-James-Michener/dp/0449211479/ref=bxgy_cc_b_text_a#reader
It puts our here and now in context regarding religious and political institutions. Starts of with early man in the middle east and ends with the starting of Israel.

At the moment I'm working my way through Oxygen (The Molecule that made the world)
http://www.amazon.com/Oxygen-Molecule-World-Popular-Science/dp/0198607830/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1249484505&sr=8-5#reader
Puts us and the fragile, changing environment we have in context. Even if not totally "accepted" the arguments are put well with for and against comments. The overall picture is a very good read and an understanding of so much.

But on the subject of what might be going on. Pumped up conspiracy or just facts that are not well known, who knows!
Certainly other peoples generally accepted ideas/ belief's are and should be as up for scrutiny as the newest scientific hypotheses. Even the basic ideas like gravity are not necessarily the only or the best way of describing how things are.

Project Camelot
This is a link to the video interviews. Whistle blowers and day dreamers ! you decide.
http://www.projectcamelot.org/interviews.html

As for gravity.
Just do a google search on "alternative theory of gravity"
On the whole these ideas are as valid as the currently preached one.

[SyntaxHeir]

Apart from the obvious ass-hatery, doesn't the article beg the question, "Homework and vegetables deter criminal inclination?"

Is it possible a child who grows up under heavy surveillance and oppression will rebel in unlawful ways?

Even if there are telescreens in every home, how will the behavior be enforced? Are there teams of people watching these screens? Is there some sort of scale where forcing a child to eat broccoli against his or her will is considered abuse?

It seems impossible to maintain.

[MrsMo]

Even better, since when does changing the settings on some game consoles constitute a danger to health and safety?

[SpoofedEx]

Even better, since when does changing the settings on some game consoles constitute a danger to health and safety?

Well, remember those exploding iPods (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article6736587.ece) and Laptops (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/dell_fire.html)?
Of course, those things don't happen with the original devices.. Only modded ones. And let's face it: modded hardware is just bound to explode some day.

And while we're on the bullshit-world subject, read the iPods link. Talking about bullshit.

[Rikku]

I'm reading (well at least trying to) A Brief History of Time, just thought I'd throw that one out there...

[Apathy]

There is an update to this on Wired. (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/britain-to-put-cctv-cameras-inside-private-homes/)

UPDATE: Further research shows that the Express didn’t quite have all its facts straight. This scheme is active, and the numbers are fairly accurate (if estimated), but the mentions of actual cameras in people’s homes are exaggerated. The truth is that the scheme can take the most troublesome families out of their homes and move them, temporarily, to a neutral, government-run compound. Here they will be under 24-hour supervision. CCTV cameras are not specifically mentioned, not are they denied, but 24-hour “supervision” certainly doesn’t rule this out from the camera-loving Brits.

The original story in the Daily Express (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115736/sin-bins-for-worst-families) that Wired quoted from looks as if it was "sexed up" by the writer, as it wasn't juicy enough, in true journalistic fashion by the old method of making it up as you go along. From what I know of the Express I'm quite surprised that there isn't a few "won't somebody think of the children" in there.

It's a case of "it's in the Daily Express - it must be true".

[pukn]

Shit! Being carted off to a government-run compound? Are they bringing back Aushwitz or Manzanar? Fuck, whats next? Mass "Re-education" due to belief in religion or anti-government?

FUCK! I can't reiterate enough how FUCKED that is. Oh boy, they'll be knocking down my door any minute now... Hold on guys, someone is at the door. They want to know if I'd like some "Re-education" tracts to pass to my friends.

[Daremo]

And you Brits wonder why we Yanks have guns....It's so we won't be carted off to the "Re-Education Camps".

Bloody Nazi's

[MrsMo]

Wow, re-education camps. I've associated them with the worse aspects of communism and always hoped to see them eradicated; now they're being employed in a country where I thought the citizens were "free." I'm stunned. What actions mark any particular family as "troublesome?" If I saw the "watchers" hauling off my neighbors and I started yelling, would I now be considered troublesome and get my butt hauled of as well?

[Apathy]

Shit! Being carted off to a government-run compound? Are they bringing back Aushwitz or Manzanar? Fuck, whats next? Mass "Re-education" due to belief in religion or anti-government?

Us Brits did invent concentration camps so... politicians really do have trouble thinking up new ideas.

If I saw the "watchers" hauling off my neighbors and I started yelling, would I now be considered troublesome and get my butt hauled of as well?

Keep that pitchfork handy MrsMo

[pukn]

Nevermind the pitchfork, Annie, go get yer gun!

Seriously though, I guess China has their "Internet Camps" and Britons have their "Re-Education Camps".

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day...