hedgehog

I know many don't believe it is happening, while some chose to ignore it and others think if they never do anything wrong then they have nothing to fear but it looks like they are starting to soften us up for the next step in the automated monitoring systems. This "leak" is, of course, well considered such that by the time the system goes live we are fed up hearing about it and it is no longer considered news by the media. Enjoy:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11...ment_database/

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Time to join. NOW. http://www.abd.org.uk/

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

they are testing this system in newcastle at the moment!!!

gazbrook

Are people intent on making driving a f%$*& misery. I hate the b@+%£" .

Diesel

Power corrupts...

What is this country coming to? Its all about gathering cash to perpetuate their jobs.

Annoying as it is there will always be a small minority that dont toe the line - I want them dealt with of course, but not at the price of civil liberties and nauseating control and observance.

Stalin would have loved this one...

Clarebabes

OK, so I joined the ABD AGES ago, wrote letters to my local MP and generally have been spreading the word to my work colleagues etc. What else can I do?

How can we stop this from happening? Hedgehog, Andy, what else can we do? On this website you're preaching to the converted. The masses do not know or care about these issues.

What can we do to stop this???? Do you really think it is possible to stop?

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Its been in place and running across here for years in a more powerful form than described on the site.

If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.

TT

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

CB: I'm open to ideas. My impression is that, on this web site, we may be preaching to the converted, but that doesn't necessarily mean readers are actually doing anything other than whingeing on this site. That achieves nothing, of course, which is why I've been banging on for ages about joining the ABD and writing to MPs.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

That's incredibly trusting of you...

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

I hate speed traps as much as the next guy, and the main reason is because I speed. I have smashed the national speed limit into oblivion on occasions (on that private road between Belfast and Londonderry that only I know about!) - I know well what the consequences are if I get caught.

For 30 years the security forces / intelligence agencies and Sprecial branch have had all manner of surveillance systems in place to monitor movements of persons on this little bit of land which is about 100 miles square. I posed no threat to them, I was never involved in paramilitary or illegal activities (other than speeding) therefore it posed no threat to me - and in reality it probably made things a little bit more secure for the ordinary people in the province. Hence I had nothing to fear. My vehicle details would have been recorded on passing every police and military location I'm sure - but like I say I had nothing to fear from that.

As the terrorist attacks on the mainland have been arguably more feroious than those in Northern Ireland were telephone warnings of attacks from the perpetrators were common place, surely the percieved infringement of your civil liberties is a small compromise?

I like a good conspiricy theory just as much as the next guy - but isn't this a bit of an over reaction?

TT

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

Just written to my MP and asked him what he's going to do about this. Very interested to see what his answer's going to be.

With contact to MPs being so straight forward (by email), there is NO excuse for everyone not doing this (unless you want to see the dwindling freedoms that we currently have evaporate to nothingness over the coming years.........).

CLSII

This is seriously getting very worrying indeed. Freedom of movement is a key human right. I wonder if 'Cherry' Blair will earn huge amounts protecting us all once hubby is out of office.

I have recently ordered a copy of 1984 by George Orwell to replace the one I lost years ago. The funny thing is everyone always gets worked up about the horrid Tories but it is the left wing who always cause the worst atrocities...even the ***** were a Socialist party. Why do this government want to control every aspect of our existence? Some call it the nanny state but if you had a nanny this controlling and incompetent you'd sack her......

hedgehog

This system is a lot different from the system in Northern Ireland, where ANPR cameras have been installed outside police stations for a few years now and where previously cameras were installed to monitor the movements of known terrorists. For a start the purpose of this system is not just to pick out criminals but it is to criminalise the motorists. It will be used to enforce a range of new laws and limits on your movements, perhaps even which lane you can drive in on the motorway. The system in NI, at least the previous one, was just used to watch for the movement of certain people it wasn't designed to limit the access of the general population fo the road network for which they paid, or to send them automated fines for a range of new crimes which are little more than taxation measures.

The other question you must ask, if this system is for fighting terrorism, is how come only motorists can be terrorists? We don't see similar systems limiting the movements of cyclists, for example, or a complex system of number plates, RFID tags and face recognition for people getting on the bus.

So, I would contend that this new system is nothing like that used in NI just because it will be used against the generally law abiding members of the population while the criminal element, who don't register their cars, will simply be able to ignore it. The government have asserted that the private motor car is "socially divisive" and that its use must be reduced at all costs and these cameras will be part of the scheme to do that. When John Major signed the 1996 Copenhagen Declaration he committed the government to this course of action and the current government, cheered on by the greens and anti-car lobby, are applying anti-car policies with zeal.

OllyK

It will be time to remove the number plates from the car soon.

Dream Weaver

Already designed the flip round false plates, they will need fitting soon

OllyK

I do hope the false plate is Tony Blair's!!

Regacy

So this will be an end to uninsured untaxed drivers.
Surely, on balance, that's a good thing.

fast bloke

The system over here is very powerful, but they do use it to fight terrorism instead of stiff motorists for doing 73 on the motorway. For anyone who is in any doubt about the tools the police and army have, I saw a guy drive straight over a roundabout and hit a wall one night, then reverse away and drive into the side of a parked car before buggering off. I called the police to report it. They put me through to traffic branch. The guy from traffic branch asked me where I was - I didn't know the name of the road but told him it was near twinbrook. He asked me my reg and then came back a few seconds later to say - "Thanks mate - you can go home now - we are watching him from a helicopter over Hannastown" - That was 10 years ago - what do you reckon they can do now

fast bloke

Nope - see above post, but we still have a scourge of runarounds over here. Buy it at auction for 50 quid and don't put your name on the docs - They don't know where to send the fine

Tiggs

i cant wait. as far as i can see if i drive safe, dont speed and tax my car im fine.

SJ_Skyline

Just emailed my MP too

If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.... B0ll0cks! This may not form a police state but it provides the foundations to build one. You control people by controlling their movement. How long before you need "papers" to venture out of your home town?

unclebuck

Preaching to the converted?

I don't think so. This statement represents what the tabloid reading man in the street thinks. Sadly this country is inhabited by spineless morons who are happy to take whatever the government gives them straight up the a*se, and smile gratefully as they do so.

OllyK

As long as the system is reliable, so innocent people don't get wrongly charged and have to spend huge amounts of time sorting the mess out.

As long as the system doesn't get hacked, allowing people to find out when you are not at home.

As long as it doesn't cost huge amounts of money, to not catch significantly more criminals

As long as police officers are not removed from other duties to sit monitoring screens.

While I have nothing to hide, I am supposed to be living in a free country which should mean that as long as I am not breaking any laws I am not being monitored everywhere that I go. This again just smacks of "everybody is guilty, we don't trust anybody so we'll treat you all as criminals on the off chance".

While you seem to gain comfort from reducing the workings of the world to the simplistic view that a toddler may take of it all, I just see is as unnecessary interference and monitoring of my life that I'll have to pay for.

stevencotton

Indeed

Leslie

Yet another part of the complete control of the electorate being slid into place. It really is becoming pretty alarming since this is an embryo authoritarian government and it is installing what it needs to enable a completely repressive goverment in the future.

How long do you think it will be before we have compulsory two way screens in our houses, all to combat terrorism of course!

I wonder why we never see this sort of thing debated in the House.

Les

BlkKnight

what's to stop the would-be terrorist / crimb using A and B roads?

OllyK

What's to stop them using the motorway with:
a) No number plates, it's not like they are putting more coppers on the roads to catch people there and then, they'll just post out a NIP.
b) False number plates - no address to post the NIP to (see also point a)
c) Stolen number plates (See a and b)

Having had my plates stolen in the past, I am well aware of what a pain in the a$$ this is. If the cops have your number plate, they assume it is you and it's then down to you to show them the crime number for when your plates were stolen (assuming you can find a copper sufficiently interested in recording the crime in the first place) and then explain how it still couldn't have been you because you were with X or Y so the police then go off and pester them as well.

Tiggs

lol....just wait till its you having Big Ron sort out your **** because your locked up for 31mph in a 30mph!

Tiggs

I expect driving around looking for homes with no car on the drive may still prove popular for criminals that dont read too many Spy Thrillers

SJ_Skyline

Some good comments here on the BBC "have your say"