From the 1984/Big Brother files comes the tale of two former bastions of freedom:
- News from the UK that the British government is now installing its cameras in private homes at a cost to taxpayers of £400million “to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.”
- And from the US, in fact right from the White House blog, comes a call for informants: If you oppose Obama’s socialist health care plan, even in “casual Conversation,” the White House wants to know about it.
[Hat tip Paul McKeever]
UPDATE 1: Apparently the news from the UK is bad, but not so bad as reported. (That’ll teach me for believing the Daily Express.) The real news is the launch of “family intervention projects” that are almost as intrusive, though without the cameras, and not costing anywhere near as much [hat tip Luke H].
UPDATE 2: The Obama Administration is about to use the Trojan Horse of copyright to introduce new law to allow searching of PC’s, Laptops, and media devices.
4 comments:
*cough*
Hoax Alert, PC.
http://twitter.com/edballsmp/status/3124025586
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forums/viewthread/10255/
Actual bureaucratic plan (which doesn't mention cameras):
http://www.respect.gov.uk/members/article.aspx?id=8678
Its all quite believeable though, isn't it? This is the logical consequence when poor behaviour is seen as a social problem rather than an individual responsibility. You get benefit payments on the one hand and extensive state surveillance on the other.
When I heard this on the radio I couldn't believe it. Is it for real? Seriously? State cameras in people's homes?
Madeleine, the supposed cameras are not real.
But the continued insanity around laws of social control in Britain is totally real.
As for the "Obama Wants Informants" story - that's bollocks too.
What the White House asks for is that people tell it what stories they hear from third parties about the health plan. They don't care who's saying it - only what's being said, so that they can tune their propaganda to counter it.
It takes the insane wingnut blogosphere to spin that into "spying on opponents".
Post a Comment