[Clips] Geodesic Surveillance: CCTV channel beamed to your home

[R.A. Hettinga]

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  Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 14:16:52 -0400
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  From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  Subject: [Clips] Geodesic Surveillance: CCTV channel beamed to your home
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<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=XLZDXQJ11DDNHQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/05/09/ncctv09.xml&site=5>

  The Telegraph

  CCTV channel beamed to your home
  By Amy Iggulden
  (Filed: 09/05/2006)


  Big Brother, the reality television show that attracts up to seven million
  viewers, is old hat.

  In the world of boundary-pushing television, it was surpassed yesterday by
  a group of Eastenders who have become the first to monitor their own
  neighbourhood via a home CCTV channel.


  Jan Ashby has the CCTV channel in her flat: 'I must admit I have watched it
  everyday since I jave had it'

  Shoreditch TV is an experiment in beaming live footage from the street into
  people's homes and promises to be every bit as fascinating as the courtship
  rituals of Celebrity Big Brother contestants Chantelle and Preston.

  Viewers can watch the dog walkers on the street below, monitor the
  appearance of new graffiti and keep an eye on the local pub.

  This summer 22,000 Londoners will be tuning in and homes across Britain are
  getting their own version next year. But despite being a curtain-twitcher's
  paradise, the channel is about "fighting crime from the sofa", not
  entertainment.

  In return for a package that includes footage from 12 security cameras, a
  police advice channel and an array of standard cable fare, the residents of
  Haberdasher Estate are expected to shop any yobs that they catch on camera.

  They can alert the council and police through a CCTV hotline and an
  anonymous e-mail tip-off service. Or they can just watch the world go by.

  Jan Ashby, 57, a resident who previewed the scheme before yesterday's
  launch, said: "I wouldn't say it was spying, but it is nice to see what's
  going on. Look, there's my local pub."

  Mrs Ashby is a "huge fan" of Channel 4's Big Brother, but is the real deal
  just as addictive?

  "I must admit I have watched it everyday since I have had it - but I
  wouldn't sit down to it for hours."

  One of the stars of the show is Ken Hodkinson, whose pub, The Marie Lloyd,
  sits directly under the gaze of Mrs Ashby and Camera South.

  "I can't say I ever fancied being on television, but I don't mind a bit if
  it keeps the area safe," he said.

  Digital Bridge, which set up the scheme for the regeneration agency
  Shoreditch Trust, hopes it will reduce fear of crime. It is also in talks
  with police about including an Asbo channel, featuring the faces of youths
  to avoid because they have broken the terms of their order.

  Civil liberties groups are concerned, with Mark Crossman of Liberty
  predicting the emergence of vigilante groups and an epidemic of old ladies
  crying wolf over young people in hoodies.

  But James Morris, the chief executive of Digital Bridge, said: "This is not
  naming and shaming or spying, it is getting the community engaged with
  their services."

  After a free three-month trial residents will pay #3.50 a month for the TV
  on-demand service, which also comes with a wireless keyboard that can turn
  the television into a PC with broadband internet.

  Police will also be able to interrupt regular programming with alerts about
  incidents.
  arts.telegraph

  Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph
  Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For
  the full copyright statement see Copyright


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  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
  The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
  44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
  "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'