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Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 14:21:04 +0200 From: Tim Griffiths <griffith@wis.weizmann.ac.il> Subject: UK police chase crooks on CCTV
Civil liberties groups said they were alarmed by the new system, but police defended its use.
``The only people entered on to the system will be convicted criminals who, through our intelligence, we believe are habitually committing crimes in the area,'' The Daily Mail quoted police Chief Superintendent Dave Armond as saying. ``If people are not committing crime they have nothing to fear, but if they are among the small minority who are, the message is, 'We are watching out for you.'''
The newspaper reported that police initially will use the system to concentrate on catching robbery suspects. In the future, however, it
Excuse me.... Since when does 'suspected of' equate to 'convicted criminal'? Also, in order to wath you (sic) they have to watch everyone - in effect guilty until proven innocent by the computer software. What sort of civil recovery are provided for the inevitable software errors? I bet nadda, and that's wrong too. This is Big Brother Spin Doctor BULLSHIT. We need a law or court ruling pretty quickly in the US that sets the standard that a group of people have no more or less rights than an individual. This will required LEA's to provide probable cause prior to any actions against groups of people (such as this). If they can't audio tape me, or seize my papers and correspondences without a warrant then they bloody well can't video me without a warrant either ,within the context of criminal proceedings. Does anyone know if *any* PAC/SIG/whatever has this as their main political agenda? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a similar note, here in Austin they are finishing up with putting hundreds of cameras around town. It isn't long before these sorts of social theory X'ers get their teeth in the shank of American society. We've got(!) to put a stop to this sort of stuff. The law should basicaly ok the use of cameras for vehicular traffic control (this does NOT include execution of speeding infractions and such), this means no police or other LEA's may be involved or view the tapes *without* a warrant. The operators and support personnel should be required to abide by a strict non-disclosure agreement as well. If they notice a wreck or whatever they should notify the relevant emergency personel and *IF* the police serve a warrent only then turn over the tape. This is a perfect example of why I, personaly, believe that a polycratic democracy is the only workable kind in the real world. The 'seperate but equal' doctrine should effect every aspect of a democratic society. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------