UK cops are watching you

BRITISH POLICE are to receive bulk data from the increasing number of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras being introduced across the country as part of new road pricing schemes.

It's all for our own good, of course, but even the most dimwitted citizens are beginning to sit up and ask exactly why the boys in blue need to know when you last popped down to the shops.

According to leaked Government documents, new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has waived the Data Protection Act and given the green light for the bulk transfer of data from London's congestion charge and traffic cameras to the Metropolitan police for "tracking potential terrorists in and around the capital."

Shami Chakrabarti, of Liberty, told The Guardian: "It is one thing to ask the public for special measures to fight the grave threat of terrorism, but when that becomes a Trojan horse for mass snooping for more petty matters it only leads to a loss of trust in government."

The only upside of the whole sorry affair is that, like all large-scale Government computer systems, it simply won't work. µ

L'Inq
Manchester Guardian