Having watched part of the final episode of the BBC2 programme "Who's
Watching You?" last night I was somewhat surprised with the closing
conclusions, which illustrated a worryingly shallow depth of research
or a more concerning wish to write a particular view of history.
When the Association of Chief Police Officers(ACPO) have had a long
standing and internally acknowledged surveillance strategy since (at
least the early to mid 1990's), partially described by John Owen in
1997, then Deputy Chief Constable of North Wales, as "... the Steering
Group considers that the first priority should be to secure all our
seaports with ANPR/CCTV to monitor movements into and out of the United
Kingdom. If our borders are controlled, then we can progress to monitor
movements within those borders, and it is that stage which presents the
next problem - ...", and where the meetings minutes for the Steering
Group referred to provide further facts about that agreed strategy and
method of its roll out; For anybody to state that there is/has been no
Big Brother plan indicates a complete lack of knowledge in that area or
an interestingly creative interpretation of Big Brother. To then
intimate that things have happened as a natural cause of events
completely ignores the highly visible underlying actions and
communications during the intervening period, something which denies
the basis of many of the messages being broadcast by the programme
itself.
The Steering Group minutes containing the entry I refer to were
originally classified, but I would expect by now for them to have been
de-classified and hence be available under freedom of information, if
they are not, then a public interest argument regarding the important
social impact of that particular strategy would surely exist today. If
they have been destroyed, I wonder why.
Having given some criticism of the portion of the programme I watched,
I also have to state that it did provide a reasonable factual coverage
of the current situation looked at, with some usefully insightful,
edited, interviews.
Ian W
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