UK to lnstall Wireless Mics on London Streets 472
johnthorensen writes "Looks like parts of London may be seeing wireless microphones on the street sometime soon. At this point, they're looking to use them to monitor noise ordinance violations - if you call about a repeated disturbance, they'll mount one by your place to monitor noise levels for the next several days. The article also notes that they intend to locate them more permanently outside bars and nightclubs. The microphones apparently communicate via wireless Internet connection, although no real details are given as to the nature of said connection. Are London residents getting the boiled frog treatment?"
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:5, Informative)
They say that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger.
But, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and pleasant, and then you gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late.
The frog's survival instincts are geared towards detecting sudden changes.
Westminster wireless network (Score:4, Informative)
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:5, Informative)
I think they're refering to the saying that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water it'll leap out, but if you put it in cold water then gradually heat it won't try to escape and you'll boil it. It's the standard /. analogy when anything that could conceivably lead to an Orwellian society appears in the news.
The process is actually more likely to work on a human than a frog, because the human body would do various things to try to cool down once things got a bit hot, whereas the frog could only regulate its temperature by getting out.
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:1984 (Score:5, Informative)
Nice try. But Hitler was not german.
Re:Deus Ex anyone? (Score:3, Informative)
St Louis City already has a few of these up and operational for gun noise. They set them up in 3 different positions around hot spots to triangulate where the shot was fired from. It's mostly a deterrant to celebratory gunfire.
Re:The Brits love being screwed by their governmen (Score:3, Informative)
This seems a little odd to me. As far as I'm aware, the British government isn't any more inefficient and bureaucratic than your average democracy. The higher taxes go to pay for services that people in the UK seem to want, like the NHS. The US has lower taxes because it has less public services.
The UK also spends proportionally much less than the US when it comes to military spending. Even though I'd pay less taxes in US, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable knowing that a far larger proportion of my money would go into the military.
Re:1984 (Score:4, Informative)
Britain -- major nanny state (Score:4, Informative)
The police here don't actually do hard stuff like going after burglars and muggers, it's too much work and it's not sexy and it may be dangerous to them.
Instead, they spend their time hanging out on motorways fining speeders despite modern cars running like on rails at our speed limit.
And of course, CCTV cameras are going up everywhere so that they can do even more of a bugger all. And now microphones.
The whole system of "law enforcement" here sucks, because it does nothing to stop hard crime. The police end up monitoring the ordinary fairly civil person instead, while the real criminal is totally unhindered.
1984 is definitely relevant.
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Deus Ex anyone? (Score:3, Informative)
Although many of the articles also cover both cites in Canada and the USA.
European cities with more than 250,000 residents are being required to install noise pollution monitors [wired.com]
Europoean Union Says "Quiet" - The European Union is requiring all cities with populations over 250,000 to develop noise maps in an effort to reduce exposure to bothersome and harmful noise levels. Paris leads the way, with maps available online, allowing residents to zoom in and explore sound levels in their own neighborhoods. "It's been an exceptional success," said Paris Deputy Mayor Contassot. "We could doubtless halve the amount of noise. That, to me, seems to be an entirely realistic goal." A WHO report estimated that 40 percent of EU residents -- 150 million people -- are exposed to road traffic noise exceeding 55 decibels (the level that the WHO deems a "serious annoyance") and that over 30 percent suffer noise levels at night that disturb sleep. Brussels has already used its maps to identify people eligible for soundproofing subsidies because of excess traffic noise.
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:2, Informative)
Plagiarised [bash.org]
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:One question before we begin... (Score:4, Informative)
A totalitarian state has no particular use for incrementalism because the people do as they're told or they get shot. Sometimes, even if they do what they're told they get shot. However, subverting a government such as the United States used to have requires a bit more subtlety. Little things slip under the radar, but over time they result in a significant loss of civil liberties, and an even more significant loss of control over the government in question. In fact, if you move slowly enough, you can create a legal climate more reflective of a police state than a republic, and many of those frogs, uh, citizens will cheer you on.