Fidel Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 So, first we have the shouting CCTV cameras, now you'll be finger-printed if you want a beer. Beer fingerprints to go UK-wide Yeovil, an example for us all By Mark Ballard Published Friday 20th October 2006 17:45 GMT The government is funding the roll out of fingerprint security at the doors of pubs and clubs in major English cities. Funding is being offered to councils that want to have their pubs keep a regional black list of known trouble makers. The fingerprint network installed in February by South Somerset District Council in Yeovil drinking holes is being used as the showcase. "The Home Office have looked at our system and are looking at trials in other towns including Coventry, Hull & Sheffield," said Julia Bradburn, principal licensing manager at South Somerset District Council. Gwent and Nottingham police have also shown an interest, while Taunton, a town neighbouring Yeovil, is discussing the installation of fingerprint systems in 10 pubs and clubs with the systems supplier CreativeCode. Bradburn could not say if fingerprint security in Yeovil had displaced crime to neighbouring towns, but she noted that domestic violence had risen in Yeovil. She could not give more details until the publication of national crime statistics to coincide with the anniversary of lax pub licensing laws on 24 November. She was, however, able to say that alcohol-related crime had reduced by 48 per cent Yeovil between February and September 2006. The council had assumed it was its duty under the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) to reduce drunken disorder by fingerprinting drinkers in the town centre. Some licensees were not happy to have their punters fingerprinted, but are all now apparently behind the idea. Not only does the council let them open later if they join the scheme, but the system costs them only £1.50 a day to run. Oh, and they are also coerced into taking the fingerprint system. New licences stipulate that a landlord who doesn't install fingerprint security and fails to show a "considerable" reduction in alcohol-related violence, will be put on report by the police and have their licences revoked. Offenders can be banned from one pub or all of them for a specified time - usually a period of months - by a committee of landlords and police called Pub Watch. Their offences are recorded against their names in the fingerprint system. Bradburn noted the system had a "psychological effect" on offenders. She said there had been only been two "major" instances of alcohol-related crime reported in Yeovil pubs and clubs since February. One was a sexual assault in a club toilet. The other occurred last Friday when an under-18 Disco at Dukes nightclub got out of hand after the youngsters had obtained some alcohol from elsewhere. A fight between two youngsters escalated into a brawl involving 435 12 to 16 year olds A major incident is when 15 police attend the scene, said Bradburn. She was unable to say how many minor incidents there had been, but acknowledged that fights were still occurring in the streets of Yeovil. The Home Office paid for Yeovil's system in full, with £6,000 of Safer, Stronger Communities funding. Bradburn said the Home Office had paid her scheme a visit and subsequently decided to fund similar systems in Coventry, Hull and Sheffield. The Home Office distanced itself from the plans. It said it provided funding to Safer, Stronger Communities through the Department for Communities and Local Government's Local Area Agreements. How they spent the money was a local decision, said a HO spokeswoman. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 That's just nuts..the big brother society is now firmly in place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Not long now until the UK starts implanting those microchips! A brave new world is coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Not long now until the UK starts implanting those microchips! A brave new world is coming. And here is what it may look like: [color:green] Big Brother Is watching... And listening and shouting and scanning and taking your fingerprints and swabbing your DNA. Lets take a snapshot of a typical day in Britain should all these things be fully implemented. You get up to go to work and walking down your residential street you are picked up by multiple cameras within minutes of leaving your house. Before you board the tube or the train you may have to relent to going through the high-tech body screener for detecting would-be terrorists. Place your hands above your head and wait for the machine to produce a naked picture of you on a screen. If your 're lucky enough not to have to go through one of these you will certainly be picked up by the the face scanning cameras which are programmed to sound an alarm when they spot suspicious behaviour, such as waiting somewhere for a prolonged period of time or just walking in a suspicious way. Should you drop some litter or act out of turn the cameras may even start shouting at you in order to publicly humiliate you and let everyone else around you know what you've done. This way you might be shamed into never stepping out of line in that way again. You swipe your electronic travel card over the reader and a unit of travel credit is deducted. This sends a signal to the central database reporting your whereabouts. You could still use cash but the fare has been raised so high for cash users that it seems ludicrous to opt for that. Those who are lucky enough to work out of the big cities or those who drive to work will have their movements and personal behaviour monitored by traffic cameras all over the country. They will also be tracked at all times by the black box locator within their vehicles. Once you get to work you are continuously monitored from the moment you enter the building until you leave. After work you may go for a drink. Once you have had your fingerprints scanned to enter you may also have to undergo a DNA swab test for drug use. If you refuse you are recorded as suspicious and may even be arrested at which point your DNA will be forcibly taken anyway. This will be added to the national DNA database which is also hooked up to the central UK citizens database which eventually will contain the DNA of everyone no matter whether or not they have committed a crime. You will not have access to this information but the government will. They may even sell the information to private companies should they wish to. The Information will be stored on the database forever. If you do manage to get in the pub for a drink you will be able to pay for it much more quickly and easily if you have an implanted microchip. Just wave your arm over a reader and it will pick up the chip's signal and deduct a beverage credit accordingly. A chip may also eliminate the need for an ID card, travel card, medical card and the like. No need to carry cumbersome wallets or handbags anymore! Perhaps you will not have worked hard enough this week to earn enough beverage credits though. Oh well never mind time to go home. When you get back remember to put out the trash. Make sure the bag is not too heavy though or more refuse credits will be deducted from your allowance. And don't forget to recycle or you could get some jail time. Just before you turn in check your personalized cctv channel and report any suspicious activity in your neighbourhood. You can then go to sleep safe in the knowledge that you are 'secure beneath the watchful eyes' of Big Brother. In the UK we are the most observed population outside of North Korea. Britain is the surveillance bench mark, the rest of the Western world is a close second. As Henry Porter Commented in last week's London Observer, It's time to wake up to what we have become and stop allowing limits to be put on our liberty. It's now or never. [/color] Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Course there is another way of looking at it. If Britain didn't have so many drunken hooligans they wouldn't need the security measures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 And it seems this is not so far-fetched nor so far off either. It is incredibly scary, oh, I shouldn't say that, because only those who have something to hide would be afraid of these wonderful hi tech conveniences to help us protect ourselves from ourselves. They forgot the part where you need to blow into the breathalyzer pipette before being able to start your car. I used to want to live forever. Now I just want to live to see the day when all this nonsense and lack of freedoms is no longer tolerated 'in the name of freedom'. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I used to want to live forever. Now I just want to live to see the day when all this nonsense and lack of freedoms is no longer tolerated 'in the name of freedom'. Cent I guess you haven't visited the UK recently Cent. Freedom to deface public buildings and smash people's cars up and beat up old people you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Chuck, Haven't been there since the 80's. But, we had the same problems and it was getting very bad (gangbangers and such). Maybe if they would hire more police with these monies to actually be present on the streets and to be able to actually catch the yobs creating the trouble and put the fuckers in jail, for long periods, to set a serious example and send the warning this will not be tolerated, the problems might be solved without infringing on everyone's rights. I'd rather the cops were on the streets to protect the citizenry, than sat in some computer room yelling at litterers and such over an intercom. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Oh they catch the buggers but nobody knows what to do with them. These are young kids. The parents don't care. They're straight back on the streets. It's bad in the UK man. Very bad. Much worse than I ever remember. Funnily enough I used to be totally on the civil liberties side and I used to complain about cameras etc. etc. Not any more. Maybe I'm getting reactionary in my old age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I've been the victim of late night alcohol related violence in Ireland and I'd much rather see cops on the beat than be confronted with all these cameras and so on. I would sooner stay at home than submit myself to finger printing at a pub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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