Unmanned drones similar to those used in Afghanistan are set to be used in Britain to spy on drivers, campaigners, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, it was revealed today. A group of government agencies led by Kent Police has commissioned arms manufacturer BAE systems to adapt military-style planes for civilian use.
According to a report published in the Guardian, a prototype drone equipped with high-powered cameras and sensors will take to the skies for test flights later this year. BAE Systems and Kent police reportedly claim that the drones would 'greatly extend' the government's surveillance capacity and 'revolutionise policing.'
Previously, Kent police have said the drone scheme was intended for use over the English Channel to monitor shipping and detect immigrants crossing from France. However reports suggest their use could be far more widespread - including detecting theft from cash machines, preventing theft of tractors and monitoring antisocial driving. The consortium also suggested the drones could be used by councils to combat 'fly-posting, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, abnormal loads and waste management'.
Five other police forces have signed up to the scheme, which could pave the way for countrywide adoption of the technology for surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering.
This to my mind is ONE STEP too far, the 'one that broke the camel's back' moment. We are already the most surveyed country in the world with CCTV cameras watching our every move. We can be tracked by cameras the moment we leave our drives until we get to our destination. We can either start the fightback now by joining campaigns like the NO2ID CARDS on this site or sink further into a BIG BROTHER STATE.
WHY DON'T THEY JUST GIVE US AN ID CHIP NOW AND BE DONE WITH IT!
17 comments:
It was very interesting for me to read that blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to this matter. BTW, try to add some photos :).
Right, I'm looking for a S.A.M. or ack ack gun on ebay, the authorities can go and fuck themselves.
Just watched Cromwell on telly!
Someone said the other day that all new televisions have webcams built into them to spy right into your living room!
Meanwhile some old people die of malnutrition and the Polis can't get to peoples homes when they are told burgalars are robbing them but they can buy a drone to catch someone driving in an ant-social manner.
Someone needs to start explaining what the priorities are in this Country.
(I agree with DL - by the way, not completely but enough)
No-one could accuse me of being a socialist, DL, but I look at this and I look at the cold weather deaths (25,000) last year, probably more this year, and I think to myself:
'Well, at least the fucking tractors are safe.'
Wouldn't it be utterly dreadful if we took some of that money and used it to pay for old people's heating bills? Fuck me, we wouldn't have a tractor left in the country.'
Anonymous, welcome. I am glad you enjoy the blog. However you only get one photo per post as two are beyond my technical abilities and anyway I can't be arsed. What do you think this is, a picture gallery? :-)
Headson, I'm your man. Let's start by shooting Blair to show we mean business. Then Murphy, then Brown, then Straw, Baroness Scotlan...........!
Lorenzo, you're fucking joking. I slapped the monkey the other morning when Lorrains Kelly was on and the wife was shopping!
Scunnert, the first party that stood up and said we were going to be free of all this shit, which mostly comes from the EU, would get my vote, even if it wasn't the SNP.
Stouters, there are no priorities in this country apart form making sure you hit your target. They are so busy finding ways of fiddling their targets so they can get big bonuses they are taking their eye off the real world that people are living in. You don't have to say you agree with me BTW, I know you do most of the time. You're only playing the Devil's Advocate. I may swear a lot but I'm not thick.
Edgar, good point. But they have to look after the tractors because if someone torches them then the Insurance Company has to pay out and they have the politicians and police in their back pocket. You can't turn on the TV without that fat fucker roaring "Go Compare" at you. Some old bastards die who gives a shit apart from the immediate family and they'll probably get a good few bob out the will.
DL are you having eyesight problems? Your erm... lovely calendar is big enough even for me to see from the doorway here. Anyway, it's a kind thought to put the date so distinctly just for us more mature readers.
I'm not too worried about these things flying over here, my cushy doos will sort them out. A few gallons of their effluent on them and that'll knacker their system.
Rosie, I have to look after you Dundee OAPs. Aye I saw you had a post on these 'drones' as well. The thin edge of the wedge, mind you the guy next door to me keeps doos as well and if the shit as much on them as they 'doo' over my car, they won't fly far. Piece of nonsense anyway.
DL, Do you remember that in a “Fish Called Wanda” Otto kept saying don’t call me stupid? I suspect you’re not developing the same complex (he was a pseudo intellectual psychopath).
I don’t think I have ever suggested that you are thick – I have identified lots of other deficiencies, some common to your race and some peculiar to you, you may have some sadly deluded views vis a vis Scotland; but dim – I think not.
If you just came out of your small Scots box and entered the big world you would be fine.
The long and the short of it is that we elect people to spend our tax revenues and as it stands we are getting the wrong ones (both sides of the boarder).
Parliament is run by a self selecting (that’s why the Parties have approved candidate lists) Kleptocracy and they are there purely for self enrichment and aggrandisement.
Role on the common sense revolution.
Stouters, I have to admit a 'fish called wanda' wasn't my favourite but I do remember the actor of whom you speak. Some twat with a shite Italian accent and a moustache if I remember. I think I was too take by Jamie Lee Cutis's figure to notice much else, certainly John Cleese passed me by. Mind you I was not particularly enamoured with 'Monty Python' either, it had some decent bits, maybe I was a tad too young when it was on, but English humour doesn't do a lot for me anyway. Maybe you should concentrate being inside the box and not worry what's going on outside.
I would disagree with you that our current Scottish Government are purely there for self enrichment but then again they have a cause to drive them. If and when that cause becomes fulfilled perhaps they'll get as bad as our current British crop. It's too late for common sense BTW unless we get out of the EU.
I think we need some good, high profile, local candidates that are not selected by the centralist London based Parties.
You could have good Scottish Parliamentarians fighting for SN issues; this would work particularly well if the numbers in the HoP were cut to 250 as each vote would e worth more.
Stouters, My MP, (Brian Donohoe) insists that his workload, which I add to on a regular basis just to keep the bastard on his toes, is huge. He does to be fair answer my e-mails with an admirable speed. I don't know whether this is because he is super efficient or whether he has fuck all to do with his time. I suspect the latter. Under independence the Tory and Labour parties, (we won't bother for the sake of this discussion with the libthingies), would have to be Scottish based parties and not run by and therefore dependent financially on London. I suspect there is are a large number of Tory supporters who would also like to see an independent Scotland. Indeed I know this to be the case as I was a memeber some years ago. In elections in the fifties Scotland returned a majority of Conservative MPs, so there may be a latent support here. My conclusion would be therefore after all this rambling that 250 is too few, but around 400 would be better and I would like to see PR as it gives a bigger range of views the chance to be aired. It has certainly worked in the SP although Labour designed it to be their fiefdom
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