Heading towards a police state?

With more Government departments and Private companies able to access everyones personal records, ever increasing use of cameras (CCTV, Speed, Motorway,Etc.) we are moving at ever increasing speed towards George Orwells "1984" how long before we have the "thought police" too? Or is it already here with Political Correctness??
Put me on your list for the Anti- surveylance religion grumpyoldwoman

I don't subscribe to the "if you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to be afraid of" view because of the total incompetence now rife through all government departments & big companies.
As an example, I work for a smallish company and have had many threatening letters from the inland revenue regarding "late" returns & payments which have been sent in on time.
Hardly a week goes by without someone losing massive amounts of data or people being snooped on for no good reason.
The problem with gathering all this data and watching people incessantly is that sooner or later somebody with evil intent will find a way to use it to their advantage & quite frankly I just find it creepy that someone may be watching me at any moment, even if I am not doing anything wrong.
I would love to start up a religion whose main tenet is that it is unlawful to photograph someone without their permission. Any takers?

America is headed in the same direction. I am not familar with UKs or the international{?} show Big Brother, I certainly recognize the term. Oh Wait, is this the absurd show that pairs people against each other to win whatever?? Please tell me that the dumbing down of American programming has hit there as well. What a waste of time and an insult to human intelligence.
In my humble opinion politicans & media are to blame for instilling fear to the masses & under the pretense of keeping the public safer; spying devises are continuing to be an acceptable form of peace keeping. Baloney I say! So be careful who represents you. Do your part & keep politicans in line. Yes this is an invasion of our privacy. Give em an inch and the miles will come soon!

My gripe comes under the umberella of government. At present its this government. I am sick and tired of the proposals and stipulations made by the government. So many CCTV cameras. Still trying to bring in ID cards. Everybody put on data bases. NHS rules, no treatment if you smoke, est, drink more than the government thinks you should. Will they be paying back NHS contributions if they dont treat you? I am so angry and yet it seems so futile that we living in this country just sit back and let it happen.

When will the British person get some backbone and make a stand. The French I'm sure wouldn't stand for it. There are many other issues I'd like to gripe about but I'm not even sure this will get onto the site.

If you doubt that the trchnology exists to "chip" every citizen, just go to this page at ZDnet http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=670 and read the article "Who or what gets RFID tags".
So BEWARE New Labour and their quest for compulsory ID cards. The question is nearer WHEN, not IF?

The Uk has more CCTV "spy cameras" than any other country in Europe (Possibly the world) recent reports have stated that a UK Citizen can be observed by a CCTV camera over 350 times a day.
But as "Concerned" says, they are only usefull after the event, and do little or nothing to prevent bad or anti-social behaviour. How many times have we seen criminals looking directly into a CCTV lens on Crimewatch and the like, only to be told that this person is still at large?
How many people remember the CCTV pictures shown on the news about a year ago, Where two men were shown on police CCTV being attacked by a gang of youths in a street in Cardiff?
The Police arrived, and the attackers legged it away from the scene, so the local plod arrested and charged the INNOCENT VICTIMS. It was not until the film was shown in Court that the innocent victims were cleared.
But here is a thought for everyone; How long before we are "chipped" like Cats and Dogs with our identities? Identity cards may be the first step towards this situation. Remember that your goods from Asca, Tescos,etc already have the technology attached in the bar codes or a small chip attached to the packaging.
The government wants to have microchips attatched to your rubbish bin to see how much waste you produce, they also want to introduce "road pricing" so your every jouney will be logged via GPS technology. AND we have no need to be worried about our so called "freedom"??????
George Orwell just got the Date Wrong in his novel; instead of "1984" perhaps he should have called "2110"

In response to the Glasgow Airport bombing... there would certainly have been a number of CCTV cameras at the airport and surrounding it, but they didn't help did they?? The car still got through and still exploded.
The London bombings; the people still got on the trains and buses, despite hundreds of cameras all over the place. Having the cameras there to recognise them after they had blown themselves up didn't help at all. It was not prevented. It is very little concellation to the families of those who were killed on the bus "We know who did it, but that doesn't mean b**ger all because he blew himself up anyway." Nice one. Great police work... great security.

CCTV doesn't prevent major crimes such as the bombings, it merely helps (only occassionally at best) identify who did it afterwards. Most of the time this isn't productive as the culprits are dead too.

I'm not completly against CCTV, infact in many cases it is useful for catching people in the act. But most of the time it is only AFTER the crime that the Police know who did it and exactly what happened. We need to focus on crime prevention rather than relying on cameras to tell us what happened after people have died.

I also agree that our rights are slowly but surely being eroded down to nothing.
I read today that "Taking pictures, filming or even just drawing sketches of buildings is now often considered ‘hostile reconnaissance’ and risks you being stopped and searched, or even arrested."
So what are artists meant to do? How are tourists meant to document their trip?
"Dear Diary, today I saw Big Ben, it was really great. Can't remember what it looks like now though, wish I could have taken a photo..."

Germany was once a police state and they never had any 'muck' or 'rammel' in their country. Maybe a change is due and we could go the same way, may not be a bad idea and may make people go and get a job and instill some pride back.

That's because the state has outsourced its power to organisations which enforce parking controls, and the like. That's where the Police State is

I don't know where you all live but you can hardly call it a Police State where I live (South East of England). Our local high street has two CCTV cameras - both facing the floor and probably only recording peoples feet, that is if there is actually a film inside. Our coppers are called
Community Officers - two small overweight girls who are often seen walking around with Tesco shopping bags and stuffing bars of chocolate in their mouths. Mind you I did see two male Community Officers sitting outside a local cafe drinking coffee.

I haven't a clue what Community Officers are paid to do - NOTHING it appears other than walk around in Uniforms two sizes too small! They don't even give out tickets to illegally parked cars. They haven't any powers to arrest anybody!

Can somebody please tell me "what are Community Officers for".

The phrase 'police state' is increasingly misused. One definition reads as "a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police"... Ha! In the area I live, the police seem incapable of tackling and solving crime... let alone maintaining any semblance of 'control'.

Freddie, I am going to join forces with the hoodies. I shall try to devise means of looking completely anonymous in photos and on CCTV. I shall wear highly reflective clothes.