Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: October 20, 2008
Tags : cell phone, england, passport, privacy
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WTF Is Up With England

If there was ever a poster child country for the world as foreseen by George Orwell it has to be England. This was the country of my birth and even though I originally left with my mother aboard the QE II at a very (very) young age I have been back twice with the last time when I was 14 years old. Since that time England has changed into a country I don’t even think I would recognize let alone want to call home.

It is a country where privacy is something that has disappeared totally as your every moved can literally be watched from the time you leave your home until you return. CCTV cameras literally have turned the country into one where the people are the most watched in the world. The interesting side note to this is that even with all this surveillance it hasn’t done anything to make anymore than a small dent in the country’s crime figures; unless you count petty crime as something worth spending billions of pounds on.

More and more of the average citizens actions on a daily basis are being scrutinized by council wardens; which is just a fancy way to say police without a badge, who can stop you as they please asking for your identification or even fine you for the smallest of civic infractions. As bad as these invasions of peoples lives and rights might seem as well as a total affront to us as human beings the people in England have proven to be even more lackadaisical about their lost freedoms that Canadians are - and I thought we were bad.

However the English governement has decided to step up this theft of privacy and increase government intrusion with a recent move to force English citizen to produce their passport everytime they purchase a mobile phone. Yes you heard that right - no passport no mobile phone. As the article in the Times Online said

A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say.

The move is targeted at monitoring the owners of Britain’s estimated 40m prepaid mobile phones. They can be purchased with cash by customers who do not wish to give their names, addresses or credit card details.

I am sorry but to be this has to be one of the most abusive uses of government powers using the fear tactics of fighting terrorism as another way to increase the policing of innocent people. There can be no other way to look at this move by the English government other than as one to further control a populace. This is a disgusting move by the government that will do nothing more than create a whole new class of innocent criminals.

One has to wonder just what else the English goverment can try and to to its people before Guy Fawkes decides to come back from the grave.

Nic

You're kidding right. You are based in the USA? "Hello, Kettle? Yes, this is the pot, I think you're black". Ahem.

StevenHodson

actually I am a Canadian who was born in England. The last time I checked in both the US and Canada you didn't need to show a passport or any kind of identification when buying a pay as you go phone.

Jack

Might be worth clarifying that you mean British, as the provinces tend to take the hump about such matters...

StevenHodson

my apologies on not making the difference more clear as I realize the feelings that can come to the surface when Britian and England get mixed up.

Bryce Roney

In Australia, to buy a prepaid phone you must supply name, address, phone number, bank card, medicare card and/or drivers' license and/or passport

StevenHodson

I'll leave that one up to Duncan to comment on since I can't speck beyond the way things are done in the US and Canada but if this is the case then it still still stinks.

Rob Whitehead

You are also not allowed to buy a TV now unless you provide your details (name, address, date of birth etc.).

This is because everyone in the UK with a TV has to have a TV license which funds the BBC. I've heard, but can't confirm, that this also applies when you try to buy a VCR, DVD recorder or PVR.

Philip John

This isn't correct. You don't have to provide that information when buying a TV, nor does every TV owner have to pay the TV license.

The TV license is payable only if you watch broadcast television. Though, the TV licensing authority would gladly have you believe otherwise which is probably where this rumour has come from.

dublinjames

Like you, I also left England as a child. Like you, I moved to Canada. Unlike you, returned to Britain 20 years ago
I found the police state in Canada to be far more intrusive than here in England. Over here you don't get ticketed for jay walking. Over here you don't get traffic tickets unless absolutely necessary. In Canada, when I lived there, the police handed out tickets like candy and every warning and misdemeanor went on your record. Here they operate with much more descretion: applying the spirit of the law rather than slavishly following the letter of the law. Try living in this society before you condemn it based on news reports. The truth of day to day living is not what you see on the news.

I have no objection to providing a passport to get a mobile phone due to the fact that they are a main tool of terrorists planning and coordinating attacks as well as triggering the bombs - not to mention criminal gangs, paedophile groups, etc. Making these phones trackable is perfectly reasonable. I will gladly give up some "privacy" if it makes things harder for the "baddies". Granted, dedicated criminals/terrorists will just get counterfeit passports but not everyone. I have nothing to hide, so have no fear. I like the fact that we have CCTV cameras and look forward to the time when they are upgraded to ones that "speak". How many cases of missing children, murders or rapes would never have been solved without these cameras or phone records?

You are lucky where you live. No one except justifyably pissed off indigenous groups would ever consider taking violent action in Canada. Mainland Britain has been subjected to terrorist attacks for the past 30 years. I lived in London throughout the IRA campaign and friends of mine were caught up in the recent Tube bombings. I feel safer living in a Britain that does these checks. It doesn't prevent attacks but it does make them more difficult to execute and easier to prosecute so bring em on. This is not Big Brother telling us what to do - this is Big Brother protecting us from the ones who would do us harm!

Philip John

CCTV has enabled our Police force to prosecute criminals much more easily because the proof is there. In April this year I was the victim of an unprovoked assault in a car park just round the corner from where I live. It was caught on CCTV and within less then a minute two Police vehicles and six officers were on the scene to arrest the offender and make sure I was taken to hospital for treatment. Along with the nurse's statement, the CCTV helped to convict my attacker who was subsequently locked up for five months.

I do believe that some of the 'anti-terrorist' measures take things too far and don't offer much protection against an attack but there are others, such as the use of CCTV that we should embrace. For example, I'd love to see trackers in cars so that automatic fines are issued to anyone speeding. Let's face it, the speed limits are there for everyone's safety. If you feel the need to put your own and others lives at risk then you should be punished.

I have to agree with dublinjames here - you need to live here for a while before you can comment on the differences.

DF

I am a Canadian who has lived in the UK for the past four years. I fully support what this guy is saying in the article. During our time there I became very paranoid about the extent of the surviellence. Which seems to me to be massive ( Canada is not far behind , but behind nonetheless ). I felt the UK was very intrusive. I think the author is bang on mostly.... I'm not sure about the council wardens stuff.... I think he blew that out of proportion.

Now, there are other things too. I found police officers tend to be nicer in the UK. More like real people. Not that I ever had a run in with any, but just from what I've observed.

There is also a very cynical spirit about Britian... you can see it in people's eyes and hear it in thier voices.... money seems to be the only thing that anyone cares about.

Anyway, we were starting a family and decided that Britian was not the place for that. We felt the society was too anxious / neurotic.... we wanted a place that held traditional family values in higher esteem, so back to Canada we went.

DF

dublinJames - I would agree with your comment in regards to the author maybe should spend some time living there to compare. However I see by your post that this applies to you too.... 20 years ago the world was quite a different place. =)