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Comments: 3 +-   UK wants to ban ultrasonic teen device on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:36PM mikesd81

Submitted by mikesd81 on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:36PM
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mikesd81 writes "The Times Online has an article about the Children's Commissioner in the UK wants to ban a pioneering device that uses high-frequency sound to stop teenagers congregating outside shops, schools and railway stations. This device admits a sound aimed directly towards teens and people in their early 20's that still have good hearing. Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England states "These devices are indiscriminate and target all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are behaving or misbehaving, the use of measures such as these are simply demonising children and young people, creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old. This device is a quick fix. It's not tackling the root of the problem and it's indiscriminate." The campaign has won the support of human rights groups including Liberty, whose director, Shami Chakrabarti, described it as a "sonic weapon directed against children and young people" But Simon Morris, commercial director of Compound Security Systems, which created and markets the Mosquito, today defended it and questioned the motivation of the campaign to ban it. "Our opinion — and unless Ms Chakrabarti has managed to change the legislation we still have free speech — is that Liberty is being more discriminatory in this campaign than anyone using the Mosquito," he said. "They are not willing to consider the victims of anti-social behaviour," Morris says."
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UK wants to ban ultrasonic teen device 3 Comments More /

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  • Any shop owner who thinks this will "solve" their problem is an idiot.

    What exactly will they do when the kids with good hearing decide to band together and smash, destroy, hack, or vandalize the source of their auditory pain (or worse, go after the shop owners)?

    Sorry folks, this is just trading one problem for a bigger problem.

  • A speaker emitting a high-frequency sine wave is not speech; it is a nuisance.
  • Older people walking their dogs past would...well have one pissed off dog. They're not even doing anything. In fact, if you're walking past the shop with your dog, you might see something you want. Talk about a business killer. And if angry dogs mauling your customers on their way out isn't enough, doesn't high frequency sound at certain levels damage your ears even if you're too old to hear it? It does on Stargate Atlantis at least.
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