Say hello to the surveillance overloards......

[Cranky]

I was driving down a familiar stretch of road about 3 km from home. I noticed something different, 5 cameras in one pole. There only use to be one there. Then some more, then some more....eventually, I counted 17 cameras over 2 kilometers of city streets. How "odd" i thought. Why so many cameras adn who is putting them up there?

I already know the answer from a few years ago and it's ......NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS AND WHY ARE YOU ASKING, ARE YOU A TERRORIST? I actually got the gist of that when I asked a couple of cops in the area. They literally asked me WHY I was asking. And of course, they also told me that they were there for my protection. They either played stupid, or are stupid, or are so indoctrinated in "safety and public order" that they don't see a single thing wrong with mass surveillance.

And just for the record, that 2 km is NOT a high crime area. It's just a city street with mid priced older homes.

Three hours later, I was reading this......and how appropiate....

RPT-Coronavirus brings China's surveillance state out of the shadows

BEIJING/HONG KONG, Feb 7 (Reuters) - When the man from Hangzhou returned home from a business trip, the local police got in touch. They had tracked his car by his license plate in nearby Wenzhou, which has had a spate of coronavirus cases despite being far from the epicentre of the outbreak. Stay indoors for two weeks, they requested.

After around 12 days, he was bored and went out early. This time, not only did the police contact him, so did his boss. He had been spotted near Hangzhou’s West Lake by a camera with facial recognition technology, and the authorities had alerted his company as a warning.

“I was a bit shocked by the ability and efficiency of the mass surveillance network. They can basically trace our movements with the AI technology and big data at any time and any place,” said the man, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions.

Chinese have long been aware that they are tracked by the world’s most sophisticated system of electronic surveillance. The coronavirus emergency has brought some of that technology out of the shadows, providing the authorities with a justification for sweeping methods of high tech social control.

MORE.....

www.reuters.com/article/china-health-surveillance/rpt-coronavirus-brings-chinas-surveillance-state-out-of-the-shadows-idUSL4N2AA0DS

Anybody have ANY idea why we need so many cameras in our city streets?

Who is watching?

Who gave them the authority to whomever is putting them up?

I NEVER remember any politician running on a platform of massive surveillance. Do you?

[Polarice]

Not unlike the USA....Bill C-51 gives the government permission to do pretty much whatever they want as far as electronic surveillance.

[Cranky]

Fact is, politicians think they are vastly more intelligent then peeons like us so watching over us is just....normal.

I had the misfortune of meeting too many provincial and local politicians from "both sides" over the last 4 years because of some real estate issues, plus some hold-my-nose "party work". Very, very underwhelmed. Certainly none with intellectual gravitas to deal with something as substantial as privacy and collective security.

Given the vast ability to survey us now and far worse in the future (DNA confirming RFiDs ubiquitous use "for convinience"), it's scary how true these words are....

Benjamin Franklin...."Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

[franko]

all that whinging and complaining about invasive governments and surveillance, and . . . hey, look what I had for supper [click and post]

[Cranky]

Feb 10, 2020 15:57:51 GMT -5 franko said:

all that whinging and complaining about invasive governments and surveillance, and . . . hey, look what I had for supper [click and post]

How inconvenient to use a cash.

Use credit cards.

How inconvenient to use credit cards.

Use the phone.

How inconvenient to use a phone.

Use an implanted RFiD.

And while implementing that really, really useful RFiD to get that 2% discount at WalMart, might as well implant the latest G5 cell "communicator".

Isn't the future wonderful?





Ancient wisdom I just made up......."We deserve the jails of convenience we create"

[Disgruntled70sHab]

I could see increased surveillance if maybe the neighbourhood isn't safe ... I grew up in neighbourhoods where the police came in only if we called them ... however, when we did need them we usually saw them parked around the neighbourhood for the next weeks ... that was the 'increased surveillance' we had back in the day but nowadays those surveillance cameras are literally everywhere ... some belong to the government, but a lot of private businesses also use them, too ... surveillance can also be found in the endless numbers of lists that are compiled with your personal data on it ... one such list that military members were not allowed to see was a form that was compiled on them by the military police ... in addition to offenses, this form supposedly detailed personal preferences and traits ... not only how much you drink on a (weekly) basis but places and bars that you frequent ... this was told to me by a military policeman and I asked him if it were possible to see my list ... that was an immediate, emphatic, no ... I learned of that when I was serving overseas so I'm not sure what types of surveillance practices are out there now ... I've been interviewed about other soldiers in my unit as part of the security screening process and they've been asked about me ... it was a flawed system because soldiers are more apt to support each other than rat eat other out ... what reinstilled my belief in the system was when one day I was called into an office (where I worked) by a detective ... I had been interviewed about several soldiers in my unit only a few days before and I figured it had to do with that ... he actually wanted to talk to me about the RCMP Sgt who had just interviewed me a few days before ... he had specific questions directed at just how effect that Sgt was during his interviews ... I was told later that this was a quality control interview and, while I don't know whether my feedback had anything to do with it, the Mounty was soon replaced and sent home (no more easy days on the taxpayer ticket) ... all of his interviews rescheduled ... I guess it's one thing to have surveillance, but it's also necessary to have standards in place, as well ... sorry about that, guys, I didn't me to get longwinded on you but a lot of Canadians aren't aware of just how much they're watched nowadays ...

Cheers.