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It's not an either-or. The UK has many private surveillance cameras. The UK also has many governmental entities at all levels that have undertaken specific pr

It's not an either-or. The UK has many private surveillance cameras. The UK also has many governmental entities at all levels that have undertaken specific programs to install large numbers of publicly-owned surveillance cameras. If I type "UK to install" in Google, the four autocomplete suggestions provided are all about surveillance cameras. To a first approximation, the UK isn't known for installing roads, or daycares, or traffic lights, or dictators, or shelters for the homeless, but only for surveillance cameras. Congratulations. The UK just passed a law appointing a Surveillance Camera Commissioner to oversee all the uses of such cameras nationwide. I am not aware that any other countries have found such an appointment necessary.

jlangenauer 14y ago
It's even worse than that. Camden Council (in northern London) where I live has "CCTV vehicles", which drive the streets recording what goes on around them (imagine a Google maps car). A more creepily fascist thing I've not yet seen. Link to a picture: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2469622 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2469622
- jgroome 14y ago
  We also have these Police CCTV vans: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4520733969_f3cf546624.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4520733969_f3cf546624.jp...
  - kamjam 14y ago
    And also CCTV cameras to make sure you aren't parking illegally or stopping in a bus lane. You name it, we have a CCTV for it!
withad 14y ago
I just did the same thing on Google and got different results, probably because Google adjusts results and auto-completion based on previous search history. Using Chrome and incognito mode, "uk to install" without quotes got me suggestions for the UK installing wind and solar power. With quotes, I got two suggestions for installing programs (iTunes and Skype) and two about installing cameras in private homes. The latter seem to be referencing a tabloid scare from two or three years ago about supervised housing for families of repeat offenders (which wouldn't necessarily have involved cameras, according to the top result). There are also some results about the legality of installing cameras in private homes in the UK, which makes sense as a search. Anyway, you would never really talk about "installing" roads, daycares, or homeless shelters. Traffic lights and dictators, maybe, but Google's auto-suggest is not an objective measure of anything.
- gizzlon 14y ago
  I got: "uk government to install surveillance cameras in private homes" .. Yikes
  - withad 14y ago
    Yeah, that's the one that seems to be a tabloid scare. All the stories are from a few days in August '09 and all cite a single Daily/Sunday Express article (apart from the Wired one, which has some later corrections). And the Daily Express... isn't the most reliable of news sources. They've got a reputation for scare stories and, weirdly, conspiracy theories about Princess Diana. Russell Howard sums them up quite well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5_joo5l5I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5_joo5l5I.

jlangenauer 14y ago

It's even worse than that. Camden Council (in northern London) where I live has "CCTV vehicles", which drive the streets recording what goes on around them (imagine a Google maps car). A more creepily fascist thing I've not yet seen. Link to a picture: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2469622 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2469622

jgroome 14y ago
We also have these Police CCTV vans: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4520733969_f3cf546624.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4520733969_f3cf546624.jp...
- kamjam 14y ago
  And also CCTV cameras to make sure you aren't parking illegally or stopping in a bus lane. You name it, we have a CCTV for it!

withad 14y ago

I just did the same thing on Google and got different results, probably because Google adjusts results and auto-completion based on previous search history. Using Chrome and incognito mode, "uk to install" without quotes got me suggestions for the UK installing wind and solar power. With quotes, I got two suggestions for installing programs (iTunes and Skype) and two about installing cameras in private homes. The latter seem to be referencing a tabloid scare from two or three years ago about supervised housing for families of repeat offenders (which wouldn't necessarily have involved cameras, according to the top result). There are also some results about the legality of installing cameras in private homes in the UK, which makes sense as a search. Anyway, you would never really talk about "installing" roads, daycares, or homeless shelters. Traffic lights and dictators, maybe, but Google's auto-suggest is not an objective measure of anything.

gizzlon 14y ago
I got: "uk government to install surveillance cameras in private homes" .. Yikes
- withad 14y ago
  Yeah, that's the one that seems to be a tabloid scare. All the stories are from a few days in August '09 and all cite a single Daily/Sunday Express article (apart from the Wired one, which has some later corrections). And the Daily Express... isn't the most reliable of news sources. They've got a reputation for scare stories and, weirdly, conspiracy theories about Princess Diana. Russell Howard sums them up quite well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5_joo5l5I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5_joo5l5I.