Britain To Put CCTV Cameras Inside Private Homes | Hacker News Reader

Britain To Put CCTV Cameras Inside Private Homes

wired.com

14 pointstc9 comments

The Daily Express is an unreliable tabloid and, as far as I can tell, they have completely fabricated the CCTV element of this story. There is no mention of CCTV in any government press release that I could find, nor in any other newspaper.

Here's a story from The Guardian (much more reliable and respectable), reporting on the initial introduction of this scheme in 2007: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/apr/12/socialexclusio...

And more recently - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/22/youth-justice-... - The Guardian report on the expansion of the scheme, which is what the Wired and Daily Express articles are about.

The idea is simply that, at the point where problem families would normally be prosecuted or have their kids taken away by social workers, they are given an alternative which will hopefully be better for everyone involved. They are not spied on; rather, they move "into dedicated residential units with round the clock supervision by social care workers, providing support, parenting advice and counselling. There is no legal compulsion on the problem families to live in the specialist units but those that do can avoid permanent eviction from council housing, prosecution for antisocial behaviour, or their children being taken into care."

It sounds more like a hospital than a prison; rehabilitation, not punishment.

Wired clearly had some fun with the article, but it's important to clarify how inaccurate it is.

The "Daily Express" is not an unreliable tabloid. It's very reliable - I can guarantee every edition will contain an editorial about illegal immigrants and a Princess Di conspiracy. Reliable as clockwork

So a naked woman on page 3 then?

Absolutely. Here's the government press release: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0138

I'm not sure if there's any important distinction to be made between spying and "round the clock supervision." Either way, it's overbearing and paternalistic.

This is completely untrue and it's rather surprising that Wired perpetuates this nonsense (whether tongue in cheek or not).

If this is at all like the author makes it out to be, then it is terrifying.

How could such a scheme be put in place without an uproar? What family would seriously allow cameras to be placed in their home?

None, but as in any case like this, nobody giving a damn about this will consider themself antisocial. So there may even be a few supporters. After some time, the boundaries will be defined newly and the uproar will come, of course then it's too late...

Tell them it's a reality TV show and there would be 1000s queueing up for the chance?

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