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I live in a smart city, can I be concerned yet?

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
My city is the first smart city in the US. Without naming my location specifically, what this means is that the city is under complete audio and video surveillance. This is no conspiracy, they added the microphones and cameras to all the light poles a couple years ago, and the city government website has a handy webpage on our smart city status, proudly claiming that we are the first “full smart city”. Obviously, someone is watching and listening, they wouldn’t install millions of dollars of equipment and simply not use it.
Point is, all of my lightpoles now listen to me. Now, I’m naturally a paranoid guy, but this whole thing really freaks me out. Am I right to be concerned/weirded out? Like, nobody in my city cares that we are under literal 24/7 surveillance like China. Literally. Nobody cares.
When will this stop? When people start caring.
Vent over, thanks.
 
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Laika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
My city is the first smart city in the US. Without naming my location specifically, what this means is that the city is under complete audio and video surveillance. This is no conspiracy, they added the microphones and cameras to all the light poles a couple years ago, and the city government website has a handy webpage on our smart city status, proudly claiming that we are the first “full smart city”. The thing is, though, none of the cops or local officials have access to any of the smart tech. Obviously, someone is watching and listening, they wouldn’t install millions of dollars of equipment and simply not use it.
Point is, all of my lightpoles now listen to me. Now, I’m naturally a paranoid guy, but this whole thing really freaks me out. Am I right to be concerned/weirded out? Like, nobody in my city cares that we are under literal 24/7 surveillance like China. Literally. Nobody cares.

Yes, you can panic now. That sounds like a very healthy thing to do. :heart:

When will this stop? When people start caring.

I tell myself "soon", but I increasingly wonder if that will be the case. People will accept and believe anything these days and it's deeply unsettling. :confused:
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
My city is the first smart city in the US. Without naming my location specifically, what this means is that the city is under complete audio and video surveillance. This is no conspiracy, they added the microphones and cameras to all the light poles a couple years ago, and the city government website has a handy webpage on our smart city status, proudly claiming that we are the first “full smart city”. Obviously, someone is watching and listening, they wouldn’t install millions of dollars of equipment and simply not use it.
Point is, all of my lightpoles now listen to me. Now, I’m naturally a paranoid guy, but this whole thing really freaks me out. Am I right to be concerned/weirded out? Like, nobody in my city cares that we are under literal 24/7 surveillance like China. Literally. Nobody cares.
When will this stop? When people start caring.
Vent over, thanks.

I don't get it, either...

I'm sorry. :(

Last time I finished 1984, I went to the gas station, and they'd installed TVs on all the gas pumps. (I got damned close to crying.)
 

Laika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Last time I finished 1984, I went to the gas station, and they'd installed TVs on all the gas pumps. (I got damned close to crying.)

I don't use it as I found it a bit inconvenient and I'm not great with computers, but I have heard that ToR is very good at anonymising your browsing history online.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I don't get it, either...

I'm sorry. :(

Last time I finished 1984, I went to the gas station, and they'd installed TVs on all the gas pumps. (I got damned close to crying.)
So they did it in the end. :(

When I was working for Shell in Houston, at the end of the 90s, I recall a group from Las Vegas made a pitch to us about TV advertising on the pumps. I vividly remember them saying the great thing was the customers had no choice but to watch, since they were holding the nozzle to fill up the tank. I was appalled. After the meeting I drew my colleagues' attention to the retail brand image they were trying to cultivate, which was "quick and hassle-free", pointing out that such a thing would be the absolute epitome of hassle! I also discovered that, in one trial in California, carried out by a competitor, people had got so annoyed they started vandalising the screens! In the end I persuaded my boss to send these guys packing, with a firm "No thanks." But that was over 20 years ago.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
I read somewhere that London has the most surveillance of any city in the world. Not sure if true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I read somewhere that London has the most surveillance of any city in the world. Not sure if true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Yes, I've read the same thing. There are cameras all over the place, in both public and private spaces.

There are occasional instances of this surveillance invading privacy. One health minister (Handcock) was forced to resign after an affair he was having came to light, due to a security camera in his office in parliament being turned round to face into the room, instead of being trained on the window.

But I can't say I find myself too concerned by them. Mostly they seem to be used for benign purposes. If I lived in, say Hong Kong, I would be a lot less sanguine.......
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
Yes, I've read the same thing. There are cameras all over the place, in both public and private spaces.

There are occasional instances of this surveillance invading privacy. One health minister (Handcock) was forced to resign after an affair he was having came to light, due to a security camera in his office in parliament being turned round to face into the room, instead of being trained on the window.

But I can't say I find myself too concerned by them. Mostly they seem to be used for benign purposes. If I lived in, say Hong Kong, I would be a lot less sanguine.......


I did feel sorry for Hancock on that occasion. I think he should have been sacked long ago, for incompetence; but not because his illicit affair came to light, especially in the way it did (I felt even more sorry for his wife and kids btw.)


Re the cameras, they don’t seem to have stopped the drug dealers in Finsbury Park from operating quite openly. Motorists making illegal U turns, on the other hand…
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I did feel sorry for Hancock on that occasion. I think he should have been sacked long ago, for incompetence; but not because his illicit affair came to light, especially in the way it did (I felt even more sorry for his wife and kids btw.)


Re the cameras, they don’t seem to have stopped the drug dealers in Finsbury Park from operating quite openly. Motorists making illegal U turns, on the other hand…
Yes, that's what I thought too. Just another silly sod letting "the little head do the thinking for the big head". But a shame for his family's life to be wrecked so publicly.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
My city is the first smart city in the US. Without naming my location specifically, what this means is that the city is under complete audio and video surveillance. This is no conspiracy, they added the microphones and cameras to all the light poles a couple years ago, and the city government website has a handy webpage on our smart city status, proudly claiming that we are the first “full smart city”. Obviously, someone is watching and listening, they wouldn’t install millions of dollars of equipment and simply not use it.
Point is, all of my lightpoles now listen to me. Now, I’m naturally a paranoid guy, but this whole thing really freaks me out. Am I right to be concerned/weirded out? Like, nobody in my city cares that we are under literal 24/7 surveillance like China. Literally. Nobody cares.
When will this stop? When people start caring.
Vent over, thanks.

The UK was the most surveiled country in the world until recently overtaken by china.

Its generally unobtrusive but i have seen a couple of instances where a lamp post has laid down the law to dropping litter and illegal parking. And the system is a boon in helping to track down criminal activity.

Of course there are rare instances where they can invade your privacy, this is inevitable, but hey, who gives a damn if you are doing nothing illegal?
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Personally, I don't care if they set up cameras and microphones all around me. I have nothing to hide. I would probably troll them by standing there staring into the camera while having a one way conversation with the light pole, just like how I look up and smile and wave at all the cameras in Walmart.

Amazon is in the process of installing cameras and driver monitors in all their delivery vehicles. The ones that complain are the ones that don't use their seat belt, have poor driving habits, watch porn (yeah, that happened), or steal packages. The ones that are doing what they should be doing have nothing to worry about.

As I see it, if you're doing nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, why be concerned?
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I was SO OFFENDED the first time I had to stand through a few commercials while pumping my gas :mad:

Really? You were offended by commercials? What about the advertising signs on top of the pump? Are you offended by those as well? What about television commercials? You know you can turn your back and not look at them, right?

It's just technology.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
I have nothing to hide either (at my fairly advanced age), but that doesn't mean I give my consent to being spied on.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Really? You were offended by commercials? What about the advertising signs on top of the pump? Are you offended by those as well? What about television commercials? You know you can turn your back and not look at them, right?

It's just technology.
No. It is advertising made far more intrusive by means of moving images designed to catch the eye (we all know how annoying moving sidebar ads are on a web page - you can't stop your eye being drawn to them. This is biology: the eye and brain are wired to focus on motion, as a basic safety feature.).

They may also have sound, which you can't escape even by turning your back. It is the muscled intrusion into your private world that makes them so offensive.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
You think that's bad? Where I live the government employs thousands of people to just walk or drive around the streets watching everyone, just waiting for anyone to do something wrong. It's disgusting! o_O
Yes that's a fair point. The difference is that recorded images can be analysed to track the movements of any member of the public. This poses no problem so long as the laws are drafted with citizen's freedom in mind - and so long as the police obey the law.

But in some countries they are drafted with social control in mind. As as we all know, there can be police who would like to track people for personal motives that are highly questionable.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
No. It is advertising made far more intrusive by means of moving images designed to catch the eye (we all know how annoying moving sidebar ads are on a web page - you can't stop your eye being drawn to them. This is biology: the eye and brain are wired to focus on motion, as a basic safety feature.).

They may also have sound, which you can't escape even by turning your back. It is the muscled intrusion into your private world that makes them so offensive.

To me, it's no different than a television commercial.
 
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