CCTV crazy in Islington

North London's Holloway Road has become one of the most spied on streets in the capital with an average of one security camera every 32 metres. On a single 600-metre stretch of the crime ridden street in Islington, locals fall under the gaze of 29 CCTV cameras. And along the entire length of the two-mile road, there are 102 security and traffic cameras trailing cars and pedestrians. Civil liberties groups were alarmed by the extent of the surveillance, but locals claimed they felt safer knowing the cameras were in operation.

Big Brother cameras to track millions of innocent drivers

by James Slack

-18th July 2007-

Labour has drawn up secret 'Big Brother' plans to hand the details of routine journeys taken by millions of innocent motorists to the police, it has emerged.

Officers will be able to trawl private information recorded by traffic cameras when investigating even the most minor crimes, according to papers made public by an astonishing Government blunder.

Once the controversial national road-pricing scheme is under way, short journeys to the shops, work or to visit friends will all be logged.

Anybody whose vehicle was merely following a car linked to a crime could come under suspicion and be asked to account for their movements...

Read all of the article, plus many comments here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=469139&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/is-this-big-brother-street/827/

Excerpt from the article:

'...Barely a pace can be walked down any high street in the country without hundreds of images of shoppers being gathered by public and private organisations.

Spies in the sky sit atop lampposts, adorn walls and peer from doorways at passers by. They snap speeding drivers and motorists running red lights.

So common are they that hardly anyone notices the long eye of the lens in our towns and cities anymore.

There is no official record of camera numbers as shop owners do not need planning permission to put up CCTV.

The result is thousands of cameras watching our every move – Britain is the most heavily observed country in the world.

The latest studies show there are 4.2 million surveillance cameras in the UK, or one for every 14 people.

Whether they make us safer is debatable...'

In Britain, law has long arms, eagle eyes

It has the world's widest public CCTV surveillance system. Many don't mind it, but activists fear the state is turning into Big Brother.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 19, 2007

Gloucester, England

It used to be that troublemakers could lounge on the planters outside the McDonald's here and pick apart the geraniums to their hearts' content.

A Polish immigrant hamburger salesman might complain -- as if! -- or someone's grandma would tell the offending group of hoodlums to knock it off, if she dared. These days, Big Brother does the job.

The closed-circuit television camera lurking just down the street from the fast-food restaurant bellows menacingly at the first sign of danger to the flora, or a cast-off cigarette butt or fast-food wrapper, for that matter. "Pick it up," commands a booming voice from . . . where, exactly?

The CCTV cameras in Gloucester and several other British towns now come equipped with speakers, meaning Big Brother is not only watching, he's telling you what to do.

"When people hear that, they tend to react. They pick up the litter and put it in the bin," said Mick Matthews, assistant chief police constable in this old cathedral city of 110,000 in the rolling Cotswold hills.

For all the increased anti-terrorism security measures in the U.S., there is probably no society on Earth more watched than Britain....

Complete article/photo illustration here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bigbrother19oct19%2C0%2C7722115.story?coll=la-home-world

EWAN MCGREGOR claims Britain's 'ludicrous nanny state' could force him to move abroad.

The actor said a recent epic motorbike ride across Africa made him long for less health and safety rules. The Trainspotting star added: 'Today, health and safety are out of control. Our trip opened my eyes to how insane the rules are in Britain - CCTV cameras everywhere, congestion charge - a ludicrous nanny state. If anything drives me out of the country it will be that. Not tax, I don't earn enough. In Africa, garage attendants smoked as they filled the bikes. I took great pleasure in that.'

[Metro, October 23rd 2007]

Billions spent on CCTV have failed to cut crime and led to an 'utter fiasco', says Scotland Yard surveillance chief

Just 3% of street robberies in London solved

By DANIEL BATES

Last updated at 23:27pm on 6th May 2008

The billions of pounds spent covering Britain with CCTV cameras has been an "utter fiasco" and failed to slash crime, Scotland Yard's surveillance chief has said.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said a Metropolitan Police pilot project found just three per cent of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images.

He claimed the vast swathes of money spent on cameras had been wasted because criminals don't fear the cameras.

But Mr Neville also castigated the police and claimed officers can't be bothered to seek out CCTV images because it's "hard work".

The comments from Mr Neville, who is the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at Scotland Yard, will further cast doubt on the spread of surveillance in Britain.

Britain has one per cent of the world's population but, incredibly, 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras - the equivalent of one for every 14 people.

Last year it emerged the £200m spent on 10,000 crime-fighting cameras in London had had little effect on reducing offending......

Complete article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=564240&in_page_id=1770

Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

Visitors from around the world come to marvel at Westminster CCTV system

Paul Lewis The Guardian,
Monday 2 March 2009

Millions of people walk beneath the unblinking gaze of central London's surveillance cameras. Most are oblivious that deep under the pavements along which they are walking, beneath restaurant kitchens and sewage drains, their digital image is gliding across a wall of plasma screens.

Westminster council's CCTV control room, where a click and swivel of a joystick delivers panoramic views of any central London street, is seen by civil liberty campaigners as a symbol of the UK's surveillance society.

Using the latest remote technology, the cameras rotate 360 degrees, 365 days a year, providing a hi-tech version of what the 18th century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham conceived as the "Panopticon" - a space where people can be constantly monitored but never know when they are being watched...........

Whole article and short video here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/02/westminster-cctv-system-privacy

Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub

Matthew Taylor The Guardian,
Saturday 14 February 2009

A prospective pub landlord says the police insistence on him installing CCTV cameras to film everyone entering his pub threatens his customers' civil liberties.

Nick Gibson says he has been in a "silent rage" since the police outlined conditions to his licence application, which also requires him to hand over any film of drinkers on request.

"I have been spitting teeth ... since I first heard of this request, but at every turn I am alternately advised to keep my head down or laughed at for my naivety," said Gibson, who plans to reopen the Drapers Arms in Islington, north London, in April.

Gibson spoke to his MP, Emily Thornberry, whose offices are on the same street. But she said the right of residents not to become victims of crime overrode his concerns. "My priority is the safety of local residents and if a camera at the pub helps, then I think it should be supported."

Thornberry said there was a problem with antisocial behaviour in the area and that the majority of residents were in favour of more CCTV cameras.

The Metropolitan police said: "Islington is one of the most densely populated districts for licensed premises in London and the borough's licensing authority is committed to providing a safe environment in which to socialise."

But Gibson insisted filming his regulars would impinge on their rights. "When was it that the constant erosion of our liberties became irreversible?" he said............

More here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/14/pub-islington-cctv

Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 20 February 2009

COMPOSER IN ATTACK ON PUB CAMERAS

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/2009/022009/inews022009_01.html

MP accused of weasel words on right to be free from crime fear

CELEBRATED composer Michael Nyman has launched a stinging attack on the government's growing surveillance culture after learning his local pub is being forced to install CCTV cameras.

Mr Nyman CBE, who lives in Barnsbury, said he was "ashamed that Britain is the most visually and information-controlled country in the world".

The row broke out after police told the new landlord of the Draper's Arms, Nick Gibson, that they would not object to his licence application as long as he installs CCTV and shares images of his customers with police.

Speaking to the Tribune from Mexico City this week, Mr Nyman said he "absolutely detests" CCTV.

He criticised the hypocrisy of "a government that allows its MPs and bankers to break rules the rest of us are obliged to respect... a government and its agencies, public or private, that don't have a clue as to how to use and safeguard the information we allow them to solicit, control and 'curate' to preserve our so-called 'freedom'. Total bollocks, I am afraid."

The composer, who wrote the multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's movie The Piano and whose operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Facing Goya, said he has had many fine meals in the Draper's Arms, in Barnsbury Street, but objects to being filmed.

He added: "For what purpose are we being filmed? All that crap about protecting the public from terrorism and crime is just that meaningless crap."

Mr Nyman accused Islington South and Finsbury Labour MP Emily Thornberry of using "weasel words" when she suggested last week that the more important civil rights issue was the right of residents to be free from the fear of crime.

He said: "I have lived a few blocks away from the Draper's Arms for around 12 years and I have totally failed to notice all this 'danger' that surrounds me.

"It's just a symbol of a kind of uncultured nastiness that seems to pervade a government system that allows the Home Secretary of all people to exploit privileged loopholes in their generous world of dodgy benefits that most of the rest of the electorate do not have available to them."

Ms Thornberry, whose office is in the same street as the Draper's Arms, said: "We've had a number of bikes stolen from outside the office. We put a CCTV camera outside my office 18 months ago. Im constantly trying to get the council to put CCTV in the street but they won't."

She added that Mr Gibson would not be photographing customers.

"It's not going to be a walk-through photo booth," she said. "It's going to be cameras at certain levels so you can identify people. Street crime is a big problem in Islington. If the council is not going to put CCTV cameras on the street it's up to businesses to do it. There's no difference between a camera and a person looking at you. I think the much bigger civil liberties issue is to be free from the fear of crime. I'm confident the majority of my constituents agree with me."

Islington Council Lib Dem crime chief Councillor Terry Stacy said: "We believe CCTV is an important tool in the fight against crime, but we don't believe every street in the UK should be covered by it. In Islington it has been installed in places that need it. Weve injected millions into it.

"Why do Labour feel they need to butt their noses into everyone's life?"

Landlord wins battle to keep CCTV out of his pub

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23661256-details/Landlord+wins+battle+to+keep+CCTV+out+of+his+pub/article.do

Georgina Littlejohn

A landlord has won the right not to install CCTV cameras in his pub after he argued that it would threaten drinkers' civil liberties.

Nick Gibson was told by police that he would have to install the security cameras when he applied for a licence for the Draper's Arms in Barnsbury Street, Islington.

But after the Information Commissioner's Office intervened, the police dropped their case and Mr Gibson was granted his licence.

The office told the Metropolitan Police that the blanket introduction of CCTV in pubs "raised serious privacy issues" and added: "We recognise that CCTV plays an important role in the prevention and detection of crime and can help to reduce crime.

"However we are concerned at the prospect of landlords being forced into installing CCTV in pubs as a matter of routine in order to meet the terms of a licence."

A police spokeswoman said the force would still continue to call for the installation of CCTV as a proviso for the granting of all future licences.

Pubs and police fall out over CCTV in bars

Some forces attach camera conditions to licence

Landlords say customers' rights are being infringed

Matthew Taylor The Guardian,
Monday 16 March 2009

There are small black cameras pointing at landlord Adam Fowle as he collects empty glasses from the tables. More appear to be watching over the comings and goings in the car park.

But unlike most pubs in the UK, the CCTV at the Doctor Johnson has been switched off. "My regulars have a right to a bit of a break when they come for a pint down their local," said Fowle.

"People want to be able to come in here and relax with their friends without being spied on by God knows who."

The Doctor Johnson, a large redbrick pub on a busy road on the outskirts of Ilford, Essex, is one of hundreds caught up in the row over the use of CCTV in pubs, after it emerged that several police forces are opposing licence applications by landlords who refuse to install security cameras to record their customers' movements.

Last week, concern over the issue led the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, to warn that the blanket introduction of CCTV in pubs raised "serious privacy concerns", and his office, the ICO, is now pursuing the issue with the Metropolitan police and the government...........

More here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/16/pubs-police-cctv-in-bars

Revealed: Big Brother Britain has more CCTV cameras than China

By Tom Kelly

Britain has one and a half times as many surveillance cameras as communist China, despite having a fraction of its population, shocking figures revealed yesterday.

There are 4.2million closed circuit TV cameras here, one per every 14 people.

But in police state China, which has a population of 1.3billion, there are just 2.75million cameras, the equivalent of one for every 472,000 of its citizens.

Simon Davies from pressure group Privacy International said the astonishing statistic highlighted Britain's 'worrying obsession' with surveillance.

'Britain has established itself as the model state that the Chinese authorities would love to have,' he said.

'As far as surveillance goes, Britain has created the blueprint for the 21st century non-democratic regime............

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205607/Shock-figures-reveal-Britain-CCTV-camera-14-people--China.html#ixzz0P2rZ6Dkr

Tenants fuming as flats turned into 'Big Brother house' with 112 CCTV cameras installed inside

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 28th August 2009

Comments (26)

Furious tenants say security cameras have turned their flats into a huge Big Brother house.

It comes after a housing trust installed up to 112 CCTV cameras in their eight three-storey blocks and pointing towards residents' front doors.

People living there say the move is an invasion of their privacy and fear they will be spied on 24 hours a day..............

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209602/Tenants-fuming-flats-turned-Big-Brother-house-112-CCTV-cameras-installed-inside.html#ixzz0PtMoE9i8

1,000 CCTV cameras to solve just one crime, Met Police admits

Fewer than one crime is solved by every 1,000 closed circuit television cameras, the Metropolitan Police, Britain's biggest police force, has admitted.

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor in London
Published: 6:28AM BST 25 Aug 2009

Each case helped by the use of CCTV effectively costs £20,000 to detect, Met figures showed.

Critics of Britains so-called 'surveillance society' said it raised serious concerns over how police forces used CCTV cameras to fight crime.

Britain is one of the most monitored countries in the world, with an estimated four million cameras nationwide.

An internal report released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws disclosed that more than one million of these are in London alone.

However, it cast doubt on the use of the cameras as a crime fighting tool.

It said: For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year................

Whole article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6082530/1000-CCTV-cameras-to-solve-just-one-crime-Met-Police-admits.html