Don't take that tone with me

We've discussed previously how England is rapidly becoming a nightmarish Big Brother society of surveillance and monitoring of its citizens.

Here's another article that further outlines how bad the situation is getting over there. There are now 4 million closed-circuit cameras in public areas of the country - one for every 14 citizens. They don't just watch you, either.

I've told you in the past about the speaker capabilities of some of these cameras, so that the people monitoring them can remotely berate the person walking across the grass, or scream at the person who drops a candy bar wrapper to stop littering. Now the newest generation of cameras contain microphones that can pick up "angry" speech:

"More than 300 of the cameras with built-in microphones have been fitted in benefit offices and city centres. The equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of decibel level, pitch and speed at which words are spoken."

I guess peasants over there can no longer passionately disagree with someone without the police becoming involved. Overcharged for a latte? Move along, citizen. Fighting with the old lady? Better not do it in public, you might be picked up for "questioning".

How will all of this help to reduce crime? And even if it does, is it worth giving up all pretense of privacy in one's daily life?

Not to me it isn't.