Dozens of private and public spy-cameras surveil the streets, walls and windows of the area around George Orwell's apartment. Britain, the nation that "sleepwalked into a surveillance society," has created the landscape that Orwell envisioned, a world where your every step is recorded from every angle. And as Cardinal Richelieu said, "If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him." Is there any among us whose movements aren't suspicious under the wrong circumstances?
On the wall outside his former residence – flat number 27B – where Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move.Orwell's view of the tree-filled gardens outside the flat is under 24-hour surveillance from two cameras perched on traffic lights.
The flat's rear windows are constantly viewed from two more security cameras outside a conference centre in Canonbury Place.
In a lane, just off the square, close to Orwell's favourite pub, the Compton Arms, a camera at the rear of a car dealership records every person entering or leaving the pub.
Within a 200-yard radius of the flat, there are another 28 CCTV cameras, together with hundreds of private, remote-controlled security cameras used to scrutinise visitors to homes, shops and offices.
(via Digg)
