England has more CCTV cameras than any nation on earth-but highest crime rate in the world.

 

 

The following essay is No.123 of Vernon Coleman’s –sound reasons for leaving the EU.  For the other 294 reasons in his publication ‘England our England’ contact: www.vernoncoleman.com

 

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For years we have been losing more and more of our freedom and our privacy. England has more CCTV cameras than any other nation on earth.  Nothing is confidential. The Government and local authorities in England have spent £1 billion of taxpayers’ money on CCTV cameras over the last decade [the figure would be higher today as the above information was as at 2002]

 

There are now far more CCTV cameras in England than in any other country on the planet. Lots more are planned.  A whole industry has developed around these cameras, and countless thousands of people are employed to watch the 24 -hour coverage they provide.

 

Most English people seem unconcerned about this gross invasion of their privacy even though there is absolutely no evidence that these cameras reduce crime, reduce anxiety about crime or help solve crimes.

 

There is evidence proving that better street lighting is four times more effective than CCTV cameras at preventing crime. Despite having more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world, England now has the worst crime rate in the world.

 

What next? Street microphones? Don’t laugh. They’ve already got microphones on the streets in Redwood City, California USA and in Los Angeles USA. Other American cities are planning to follow suit.

 

 The courts now accept that when in public places individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy.  They can, and will peep inside your bag and your pockets without you being aware of it.  Actually, you don’t have much privacy in your own home either. In parts of the USA they are now using thermal imaging to see into people’s homes.

 

Under Labour, the loss of privacy has intensified.  And with the war on terrorism as an excuse, things are about to get much, much worse.  Governments everywhere will be monitoring the movements of terrorists, eavesdropping on their telephone calls and opening their e-mails.  To do this they will, of course, have to invade our privacy.  Actually they’re already doing it.

 

The Echelon system, governed by five English –speaking nations (England, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand), and run by America’s National Security Agency, uses satellites to eavesdrop on any electronic communication (such as phone calls, e-mails and faxes).

 

Echelon works by recognising key words from its dictionary of trigger words and phrases. Use the wrong word – and it’s very easy to do so in an entirely innocent conversation- and you’re likely to have armed policemen banging on your door at 4.00 am.

 

Of course, none of this is really much good in the war against terrorists since terrorists are pretty careful about how they communicate with one another.  But the system is good for keeping an eye on law-abiding citizens.

 

It is of course, possible to encrypt your e-mails.  It is possible to purchase programmes so good that it would take 4000 years for every computer in the USA, working together, to crack the codes they create.

 

 But there’s a snag.  Encrypt your e-mails and the authorities will assume you’ve got something to hide. They might not be able to read your e-mail messages but you will have attracted their attention; they will watch you closely and, if they decide that they want to read your e-mails they’ll force you to hand over the key.  To teach you a lesson, and use you as a warning to others who might be tempted to try encryption, you could well find yourself getting one of those 4.00 a.m. visits from armed policemen.  The bottom line: e-mail encryption is pretty much a waste of time. Don’t bother.

 

 

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