The UK Spy-Drones (& The Thought Police…..)

Way back in May 2007 I made a post detailing the specifics of our quickly diminishing personal rights in the UK, also foretelling of a truly Orwellian Britain that wasn't just hearsay but which was based entirely on fact, it made for quite disturbing reading (the original post can be viewed here).

I referenced many facets of these pending encroachments of civil liberties and also spoke of the unveiling of the “MicroDrone” and the fact that the UK police were going to commence trial runs utilising it in a civilian environment and capacity. I very rarely speak of such things and admittedly I used a somewhat tenuous premise by comparing the, “MicroDrone” to a UFO, which to be fair was due in most to the recent Californian Drone Hoax which was (at the time) mid-flap and was taking up most of my time.

Well roll on February 2009 and the following article posted by the Daily Mail (online):

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Big Brother spy planes that track the Taliban
may soon hover over your home.

Pilotless planes used to track the Taliban could soon be hovering over our streets, it has emerged. Remote-controlled drones are already used widely by the military. Now ministers believe they are likely to become 'increasingly useful' for police work. Armed with heat-seeking cameras, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would hover hundreds of feet in the air, gathering intelligence and watching suspects.

The Microdrone has been trialled by Merseyside police. The white top features GPS technology, which allows officers to navigate it. It contains a memory card to store recordings from several flights.

In theory, their advantages are clear. They are cheaper and quieter than conventional helicopters, can circle their target for hours without refuelling - and they don't get bored on long surveillance missions.

However, their use is likely to further fuel concerns about our march towards a Big Brother state. Britain already has more CCTV cameras than the rest of Europe put together. More than four million closed-circuit TV cameras cover the streets; cars are monitored using cameras that check registration plates and a new law will see footage taken of shoppers buying alcohol. The plan to deploy 'spy in the sky' planes is outlined in the Home Office's latest Science and Innovation Strategy.

It says: 'Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are likely to be an increasingly useful tool for police in the future, potentially reducing the number of dangerous situations the police may have to enter and also providing evidence for prosecutions and support police operations in "real time".'

Two years ago, Tony McNulty, then a Home Office minister, acknowledged that scientists were exploring the use of UAV technology for a 'range of policing and security applications' .

They could be used by MI5 to watch a suspect's address for long periods or track a car for miles. The drones could also help officers plan raids in locations that are hard to reach, to record and monitor accidents or to spot speeding offences or reckless or uninsured drivers.

Goggles enable officers to see exactly what the drone is filming:

Ministers are liaising with the Civil Aviation Authority about the introduction of UAVs, some of which measure as little as 2ft across. But the document cautions:

'We need to investigate how such vehicles could be used, and their ability to provide high-quality evidence for convictions.'

There are also safety concerns surrounding the planes. Those used by the military are prone to crashes on takeoff and landing. Many have been lost over battlefields. A trial by Merseyside police, of £30,000 remote-controlled miniature helicopters with still, video or infra-red cameras, highlighted more mundane problems related to battery life and the effects of bad weather on flights.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'I think a lot of people would be concerned at the Home Office looking to use technology more generally associated with the tribal borders of Pakistan and the fight against terror over British towns to watch the British public…..It is not necessarily as glamorous or as high-tech, but a bobby snapping cuffs on a criminal is the most productive approach.'

Source: Daily Mail

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Also posted on February 24th (2009) by the Daily Mail was the following article titled:

I fear a Big Brother state ( reveals David Blunkett)

David Blunkett will today warn of the dangers of allowing an 'oppressive' and 'eventually self-destructive' Big Brother state to develop. The former Home Secretary has concerns about plans for mass data sharing by public bodies and the Home Office's proposal for a giant database holding records of every phone call and internet click. In a speech today, Mr Blunkett will also suggest one solution to the identity cards row would be to make passports compulsory for everyone, with ID cards only being issued to those who want one.

Mr Blunkett will tell the 21st annual law lecture at Essex University: 'We need principles on which we can base actions which may otherwise, in the name of protecting freedom and decency, become oppressive, intolerant of difference and eventually self-destructive.'

Mr Blunkett, who had many run-ins with the civil liberties lobby when Home Secretary between 2001 and 2004, will say there must be 'very clear rules' to protect the public from intrusion by the state and private businesses.

Source: Daily Mail

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Remember, this is the person widely heralded as the architect of the ID cards speaking, one of the loudest and most influential voices on the subject back in the day when he was Home Secretary, anyway...... Finally and on a much lighter note, check out this San Francisco Chronicle Mp3 from an unfathomably irate reader and his overly verbose rant on the etymology of the word, “Drone” (drone, drone, drone).

Big Brother Watches Over Orwellian Britain

Would You Mistake This Mobile Police CCTV Unit For A UFO At First Glance?!?

Britain ranks #1 in the Global league table for the ratio of cameras to people, with 20% of all the world's CCTV cameras being used in Britain.

There is ONE CCTV camera for EVERY THIRTEEN people living in the Britain.

And what is the percentage of the level of improvement of detection rates (of violent offences) since the introduction of CCTV? Yep, an overall 0% increase in detection rates!!

Hampshire Police Chief Constable Speaks Out Over Orwellian Society

Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Police, Ian Readhead has questioned the extensive use of CCTV cameras, especially so in small towns such as Stockbridge (which is part of the Hampshire Force Area) where parish councillors have spent £10,000 installing CCTV.

Ian Readhead was speaking to BBC One's, “Politics Show”.

"I'm really concerned about what happens to the product of these cameras, and what comes next. If it's in our villages, are we really moving towards an Orwellian situation where cameras are at every street corner? And I really don't think that's the kind of country that I want to live in”.

The National DNA Database

Another database that has grown alarmingly in the past two years is the National DNA Database, Mr Readhead as well as calling for tighter restrictions on CCTV is raising the issue of why so much DNA is being kept.

This is as well as Police indiscriminately taking & storing DNA from every person they question or arrest, guilty or innocent!!

Hundreds of thousands of children aged between 10 and 18 have had their DNA added to the database despite never being cautioned or charged for any offence.

Originally touted as a, “Database for known offenders” it is quick becoming a database of the mass populous, with over 3.7 million Britons on it and this number is increasing rapidly.

This should ring alarm bells for everyone, especially with the, soon to be compulsory Identity Card. The Database State has arrived!!

And surely this is defeating the object of the full goal of the exercise, or at least the goal as we were previously lead to believe. For rather than having a National DNA Database of known offenders which they could more easily index, it appears that they are compiling a database of the entire country which surely at the very least interfere with the speed of the entire process. Because instead of searching through just the criminals' DNA, they will have to sort through the entire DNA Database for comparisons, ultimately costing more time, effort and money.

There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain. One for every 13 people.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has raised concerns about Britain , "Sleepwalking into a surveillance society" with more cameras on the street and extensive monitoring of consumer behaviour.

The day after Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Police voiced his growing concerns over the increase of CCTV cameras, a new Police, “Spy Drone” is announced in Britain!!

A, “Spy Drone” which was originally used for military reconnaissance was unveiled and paraded for the public today. The silent, “Eye in the sky” was revealed the day after Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Police, Ian Readhead voiced his fears over Britain becoming an, “Orwellian” society.

Officially titled, “The Microdrone,” it measures a mere 2ft between the tips of its eight rotor blades. While almost completely silent it is designed to hover above crime scenes and send footage to officers on the ground. It only has a maximum speed of 15mph but can take off and land in all weathers.

It is to be trialled in Liverpool and is the first time anything like this has been, and I quote, “Put to civilian use in this country”. (Which for myself, raised the immediate response of when and why has <as is implied> the military used this in Britain? But I digress.)

The Police are hoping that the Microdrone will eventually replace many flights that their existing manned helicopter currently undertakes and more importantly at a significantly reduced cost. Or at the very least offer valuable assistance to the helicopter and its crew. Also the Microdrone will be used in conjunction with existing mobile CCTV vans, which have been in use for quite a while now.

The business development manager for Microdrone. Alistair Fox said that,

"We believe they are ideal for police use -they can be up in the air in just three minutes, they are relatively easy to fly, and they can provide high-quality images back to officers on the ground. They don't need clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority because as they weigh less than 7kg they are officially classified as toys”.

Click On Picture To Enlarge

Talking CCTV Cameras

And all of this comes around a month after it was announced trials are commencing of talking CCTV cameras (which are already under way in Middlesbrough among other places). And all of this is being engineered with NO PROOF that any type of CCTV cameras do any good in preventing or reducing crime!!

In fact quite the opposite, as the number of CCTV cameras has risen, so has violent crime and robbery.

So, if even the people who are governed with policing the areas are voicing concerns that the government are constantly installing new cameras and as it's evidently not deterring the criminals, one has to question if there is an ulterior motive at play?

So we have an increase in CCTV cameras as well as ones fitted with speakers which enables the operator to speak to people that they are viewing, we have military style UAV's being employed in civilian sectors by the British Police. Again with speakers and the ability for communication. Is the governments insistence on pushing the introduction of Identity cards for all UK residents borne from keeping its citizens best interests at heart, or is it really just a megalomaniacal need for more power and ultimately more control?

Is, "Transformational Government" just Doublespeak for, "The Database State"

"Transformational Government" is the current, “Buzzword”. Doesn't sound that bad does it? A little bit vague perhaps. Well, the idea of it (and ultimately of the Identity cards) is to link all of the existing databases together or at least to allow the National Identity Register (NIR) to index them.

This means that your NIR number will basically be the barcode of your entire life. Another new phrase being proffered by the, “Transformational Government” is, “Information Sharing”. Oh yes, it gets better!! Any information you share with a public servant in any sector, could be electronically passed to just about anyone!! Or worst, accessed by criminals (and I don't mean just the government!!)

Everyone over the age of 16 will be required to register for an ID card. ”The Identity Cards Act” sets out fifty different sorts of information to be held on each individual, these range from name, address and date of birth to a record of all the occasions on which your record has been accessed and by whom. Also, Home Office regulations pushed through makes it possible to indefinitely extend this list in the future.

The NIR is covered by the Data Protection Act 1998, so theoretically an individual will be able to see the NIR information held on him/her. However a little further investigation uncovers that the Data Protection Act itself qualifies for several exemptions for viewing information that is used by government.

Even though you may be allowed to check the data that is stored, you are unable to correct any wrong information that is being held about yourself!! Also stressed is that, “You are personally responsible for the accuracy of the information!” How you can guarantee any form of accuracy when you apparently are offered no control over the final data which is included in the finished file is a little unclear.

Also, the Home Secretary has the power to change information held about you at any time, without your prior knowledge or consent. And indeed, no notification after the change of data is required or offered.

Britain is supposed to be a, “Western Democracy,” isn't it?

What's next for Britain? A Ministry Of Love (Miniluv), Telescreens and The Thought Police?

Rather than the Totalitarian approach of regulating nearly every aspect of public and private behaviour, the British Government it would appear is instead intent on cataloguing every aspect of public and private behaviour.

But to what end?

And more importantly, will it justify the means?