Reply to post: Imagine every surveillance camera as a manned Sentry and a watchtower.

Imagine every surveillance camera as a manned Sentry and a watchtower.

If you imagine every surveillance camera as manned armed Sentry sitting in a Watchtower, you realise how much our Privacy has been eroded over the last 20 years.

On my commute, the final leg is 20 miles of rural roads, we have recently had roadside electronic displays every half mile installed, showing my speed in Green or Red. Literally every half mile, for 20 miles, and yes, I can remember my speed from 30 seconds ago. We've also had all speed limits reduced, removing any margin of error you previously had.

So you now have a pole with power, with an 'accepted' harmless fluffy cat surveillance device. What's the harm in having a simple electronic display showing your speed in green or red you say?

The problem is at any point in the future your can replace that electronic device with a far more sophisticated 'black box', which records video in 8K, ANPR, records audio, checks for a range of issues, driving to close and if the political climate really changes as it seems it is, holding hands with an illegal immigrant.

Like the Hadecs 3 cameras operating 24/7 on the M4 in Bristol J15, measures will be upgraded/introduced by stealth, letting word of mouth dispense the bad news of a NIP, that these have been silently upgraded, operate 24/7 at 70MPH(+10%+2) even when the smart motorway signage is off.

It's head clipping of the highest order that disproportionally affects those with the least income and if revenues levels from these cameras drop as more become aware, they can just up the technology to catch a difference offence like lane hogging / driving too close, and those cameras now exist.

We've moved from a time when surveillance was sold on the basis of offering basic protection, to one of monitoring the general public, 'head clipping' their daily mistakes to general revenue and there seems nothing to stop the scum (because they know exactly what they are doing) lining their pockets off the back of minor infringments, by using absolute black and white 'digital' enforcement, while labeling themselves as whiter than white, and the infringer as someone that had it coming to them.

Sorry, but that's not the World I'm going to allow happen while I work in Technology, we have to always look to use technology as an enabler, not a form of repression.

Amber Rudd's approach (and this by Yorkshire Police) to technology is completely wrong, taking routine fingerprints from the innocent, is not harmless fluffy cat fun, that we should accept.