If there was one thing that movie Minority Report gained any recognition for; other than being generally panned, was its Orwellian depiction of our future under constant surveillance. Surveillance that included what we were thinking of doing at some point in the future. More often as not these days the movie title is used in the same way that we have been using George Orwell’s 1984 book about a society without any rights. A society where the government has total control over your movements and you can be questioned at any time.
As much as we might like to believe that this isn’t the road we are traveling down the fact is that it is indeed the road of our scary future. Clear evidence of this trend can be seen in England and it just became increasingly terrifying. Even though England has had CCTV coverage like no other society in the world they are now taking it up a level to using those camera to predict crime.
The idea is that new software being tested in Portsmouth England that will predict if a crime is possibly about to take place. It does this by using the camera footage to detect suspicious behavior.
Behavior such as - loitering or walking slow.
At which point the software would notify a camera operator who would then call in the police to whom you would have to explain your actions.
CCTV frame 1: Two men appear to be meeting on a deserted street. Is a crime about to happen?
CCTV frame 2: The two men are now seen exchanging words and perhaps something else. the camera operator is notified.
As Councillor Jason Fazackarley of the Portsmouth Council said to the Daily Mail
‘It’s the 21st century equivalent of a nightwatchman, but unlike a night-watchman it never blinks, it never takes a break and it never gets bored.’
Oh and if you think this is just restricted to England you would be wrong. According to the Daily Mail report the system was also tested in New York City
The system has been run successfully in several U.S. cities, including New York. Government departments here are said to be interested in putting it to wider use.
This is so wrong. So many ways of wrong. No government agency should have this kind of power over its citizens.
Period.
[graphic courtesy of The Daily Mail, hat tip to Nothing to do with Arbroath]
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