August 6, 2009 9:37 PM
UK 24-hour surveillance of "worst" families
UK Government To Install Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes
The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.
No you aren't reading a passage from George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.
Now the government is embarking on a scheme called "Family Intervention Projects" which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular "home checks" to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.
Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract.
Around 2,000 families have been targeted by this program so far and the government wants to snare 20,000 more within the next two years. The tab will be picked up by the taxpayer, with the "interventions" being funded through local council authorities.
Another key aspect of the program will see parents deemed "responsible" by the government handed the power to denounce and report bad parents who allow their children to engage in bad behavior. Such families will then be targeted for "interventions".
Both parents and children will also be forced to sign a "behavior contract" with the government known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, in which the state will dictate obligations that it expects to be met.
Read entire article here.
I'd be perfectly happy to find out it's a satire, but unfortunately, this appears to be a true story.
See also Sin Bins for Worst Families.
HT: Sue
Posted in Continuing chaos | Permalink
Comments
Apparently it has been grossly exaggerated and they are not putting caneras in people's houses:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/news/content.cfm?landing=family_intervention_projects&type=1
Posted by: Susan | August 7, 2009 2:03 PM
