Saturday, March 06, 2010:
George Orwell, author of 1984, and the man who coined the term Big Brother, must surely be turning over in his grave on hearing this one. In England, his beloved country, a pro-privacy group has said in a new report that more than 2.6 million microchips have been quietly installed in garbage bins to keep track of people and charge those who throw away too much, reports Yahoo! News.
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"They should mind their own business," said Terry Williams, an unemployed Londoner. "I believe they have gone too far. It's not like we are throwing away anything that is illegal." The advocacy group, aptly named Big Brother Watch, found that many local governments, also called councils in Britain, are installing the microchips in garbage bins though they haven't switched them on yet for fear of a public backlash.
"They are waiting for the political climate to change before they start using them," said campaign director Dylan Sharpe, who had said that wasteful families would be fined. For its size UK has easily the largest number of close circuit cameras that keep track of its population, mostly on the public transportation system.
"This is yet another piece of surveillance that the councils are taking on in our daily life," said Sharpe. "With this information they can tell if we are home or not, and the information is stored on their database, which is not that secure."
Ashish Joshi, EFYTIMES News Network
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