Big Red Bus, Big Brother and the Chinaman
I just had the slightly odd experience of coming across one of my articles on a blog belonging to a Chinese man living in Hertfordshire (which is not very far away from where I live). The really odd part was that the article was the one about Stormpay stealing money from its members and it was posted just after a blog item saying how great it was to be NetIBA certified to get a reduction in Stormpay fees. Yeah, I remember feeling like that just before they emptied out my account.
Yesterday I was driving out of town following a double decker London bus. When you are stuck in traffic behind one of those big red beasties, there is not much to do apart from reading the advertising on its rear. Had a momentary fantasy of advertising my website there but I'm sure I couldn't afford an ad on one bus let alone a whole fleet, but that's half the point of a fantasy anyway, isn't it.
The ad was a huge yellow poster on behalf of the London Borough of Haringey (the next borough to Enfield, where I live) advertising the fact that they now have CCTV and "are watching". I wasn't particularly struck to learn about the installation of CCTV in Wood Green, I briefly tried to remember how long it had been since I went shopping in Wood Green Shopping City.
If traffic had been moving normally, I probably would have forgotten all about the advertising on the bus but, as I was forced to follow the bus at tortoise speed, the ad remained so much in my face that I couldn't avoid paying attention to it. I realised how thoroughly I had taken for granted the fact that CCTV had been installed in my local shopping centre for a couple of years and that I didn't bat an eye to think it was spreading throughout London and, in fact throughout all major towns in England. I believe that all in all this type of security measure is a good thing if it reduces crime. What scares me is the way we now take this legalised spying for granted. It is not so many years ago that the notion of being able to track people via CCTV in the high street was the stuff of futuristic fiction. It is now fact, Big Brother is watching us.
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If you want to work from home on the internet but don't know where to start, visit my Work From Home Directory at Hunting Venus.com You'll find all the help you need.
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Yesterday I was driving out of town following a double decker London bus. When you are stuck in traffic behind one of those big red beasties, there is not much to do apart from reading the advertising on its rear. Had a momentary fantasy of advertising my website there but I'm sure I couldn't afford an ad on one bus let alone a whole fleet, but that's half the point of a fantasy anyway, isn't it.
The ad was a huge yellow poster on behalf of the London Borough of Haringey (the next borough to Enfield, where I live) advertising the fact that they now have CCTV and "are watching". I wasn't particularly struck to learn about the installation of CCTV in Wood Green, I briefly tried to remember how long it had been since I went shopping in Wood Green Shopping City.
If traffic had been moving normally, I probably would have forgotten all about the advertising on the bus but, as I was forced to follow the bus at tortoise speed, the ad remained so much in my face that I couldn't avoid paying attention to it. I realised how thoroughly I had taken for granted the fact that CCTV had been installed in my local shopping centre for a couple of years and that I didn't bat an eye to think it was spreading throughout London and, in fact throughout all major towns in England. I believe that all in all this type of security measure is a good thing if it reduces crime. What scares me is the way we now take this legalised spying for granted. It is not so many years ago that the notion of being able to track people via CCTV in the high street was the stuff of futuristic fiction. It is now fact, Big Brother is watching us.
If you want to work from home on the internet but don't know where to start, visit my Work From Home Directory at Hunting Venus.com You'll find all the help you need.
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