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5511 discussions

Re: [B7L] surveillance cameras
by Tavia 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Julia wrote: >2001, and everywhere I go on the rail network >and the London Underground, there are security cameras >"for the protection of our customers and staff". I guess it depends whether hypothetical member of the public encounters them in the context of 'privacy invasion' or 'protection'. I've exited the London Underground at non-busy stations carrying several thousands of pounds-worth of computer equipment (on business) and been bloody glad of the security cameras on those dark deserted stairwells. Ditto airport car-parks. And I would probably rate myself on the personal privacy end of the spectrum. >It's given me an insight into one of the aspects of TWB >that I personally find deeply disturbing - that the population >seem to accept what's going on. I guess the Federation administration just has to persuade the average plus/minus law-abiding citizen that each *particular* usage lies on the protection end of the spectrum... Tavia

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Re: [B7L] fanfic on the list
by Marian de Haan 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Jacqui wrote: >A fanfic story in under a hundred words.< <snip> Enjoyed it and LOL. Is this the shortest piece of fanfic ever written? Marian

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surveillance cameras
by Julia Jones 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Something that's struck me in my recent intensive encounter with the British public transport system is the way public attitudes to surveillance systems have changed in the last twenty years. As recently as 1978, surveillance cameras in public areas were seen as a symbol of an oppressive government. There's ample evidence for that in The Way Back, and in the title sequence for the first two series. And then there's the way the same cameras that are seen keeping an eye on the general public in TWB are used to control prisoners both in the detention area on earth, and on the London. 2001, and everywhere I go on the rail network and the London Underground, there are security cameras "for the protection of our customers and staff". Large notices drew my attention to the presence of these cameras, and the management's willingness to use them to protect those using and running the trains. Watching the BBC documentary series on The Face, and there's a demonstration of the wonders of modern technology - the software system that can take an image from a security camera, and match it up against a database of faces, returning any match within a couple of seconds. Did I hear correctly when John Cleese mentioned "millions" in connection with how many faces are stored in this database? This software and database are up and running - it's what Neil and I were having a rant about last year. It's being used by the police right now. The documentary had nothing to say about the ethics of such a system. Just how does a face get into this database? And why? It's given me an insight into one of the aspects of TWB that I personally find deeply disturbing - that the population seem to accept what's going on. Doesn't seem to have taken much for *us* to accept similar uses of surveillance technology. It's wonderful for crime- fighting, and if you don't like it, what is it you want to hide? After all, only criminals would be worried about such a system. Well, yes. Only criminals would be worried, I'll grant you that. It's the definition of "criminal" that worries me. Are you quite certain that you'll never be defined as a criminal? Or that you aren't already? An awful lot of people who consider themselves to be upright honest citizens get most indignant about the police "wasting their time on speeding offences when they could be catching criminals". It's an offence, sometimes an extremely serious offence, to speed on the roads, but somehow that isn't a crime because it's nice middle class people doing it. Or to take an example a little closer to home for me - once, and only once, thank god, have I experienced what it's like to be classed as a criminal because of my race, by someone in a position to make my life unpleasant. UK passports list place of birth. I was travelling from England to Amsterdam a few years ago, at a time when the IRA was using the Netherlands as a base for terrorist attacks on British targets in Europe. The customs officer who examined my passport questioned me in an extremely unpleasant and threatening manner about the fact that I had an English accent when my place of birth was listed as Belfast. I've been asked about it by other customs officers, but politely and apparently out of curiosity, and this man's attitude was a frightening contrast. And now people are finding themselves considered legitimate targets by vigilante groups, because they have the same name as someone convicted of paedophile offences, or because they live at an address that was once used by someone convicted by paedophile offences, or just because a nice juicy bit of gossip has been doing the rounds of the estate. All at the instigation of a tabloid paper that has cottoned on to a wonderful way to boost sales. I wonder how many tabloid readers have stopped to consider that *they* might be reclassified as criminals in the next wave of hysteria against some outcast group. Somehow, I no longer find it implausible that Blake's lawyer was that naive about what was going on in his society. -- Julia Jones

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Re: Ethics and Hal Mellanby
by Marian de Haan 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Jacqui wrote: >As I said once before, taking one of the 'natives' as a playmate for his daughter, knowing the girl's likely fate, is debatable ethically.< But we don't know the circumstances of him adopting her. If he'd found her abandoned - the Sarrans seem savage enough for the practice of ridding themselves of superfluous baby girls - then taking her in would have been a charitable deed. Marian

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Re: [B7L] surveillance cameras
by Deborah Day 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

This email was delivered to you by The Free Internet, a Business Online Group company. http://www.thefreeinternet.net --------------------------------------------------------------- > >>Issuing fines for speeding is lucrative, however. Isn't there surveillance >>technology that can take a picture, recognize your registration plate, and >then >>issue a fine accordingly? What worries me about this particular technology >is >>that it can monitor your movements as you travel. > >But at least the damn things only take photos if you _are_ speeding. Be >grateful for our toll-free roads. On the French autoroutes, they can issue >you with a speeding ticket if you get from one toll booth to the next too >quickly, which means they must routinely register which vehicles go through >and when. This is what those small blue cameras do - at the moment they are for monitoring traffic flow but they do this by reading number plates and working out how long it takes you to get to the next one. Give it time and we will get tickets from them as well. And you can't see them as easily as the big grey ones ... Debbie

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internet zine sale
by JEB31538＠cs.com 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Several Unlimited has already started their annual internet zine sale. They have a lot of Blake's 7 items--gen, adult, slash. The prices in most cases are very reasonable and some are downright cheap. Some zines are only two US dollars. Postage is added afterwards and isn't included in the sale price. I can't buy anything, because I already either own it or I don't want it because it's Blakeless or doesn't have enough good Blake in it. http://members.aol.com/erikaf/su/ Overseas buyers, however, might have trouble paying for the items because they will not take international checks or money orders. In years past, items are sometimes added to the sale after it starts so it's sometimes a good idea to check it every few days for a while. I've ordered from this sale before and the people are reliable. I've been an out of state member of the Texas club for probably six years. Every April lst, they have this internet zine sale. They sell things on commission in case you are interested in that for next year. Joyce

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Depression (Was: [B7L] Back again)
by Tavia 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Ross wrote: >For some reason, antidepressants and Blake's 7 >seem to go well together. I remember we had a whip >around a while back, and it seems that enough b7fen >had taken antidepressants to start their own list. Pretty common in general population too, though. I don't know the stats offhand but seem to recall on average one would expect around 50% of UK population to be treated for depression at some point in their lives, and some staggering proportion attempt suicide (10% ??). Herbal anti-depressants (eg St John's wort) are among the most commonly taken non-prescription agents. Tavia

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Re: [B7L] Back again
by Tavia 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Jacqueline wrote: >Didya miss me? Nice to see you back, Jacqueline (if one's allowed to be so warm and fuzzy?). >I'll bet that the crew got a full load of prozac >or drugs like it on board somewhere within the >first ten episodes. I've always seen Prozac as something akin to the suppressant drugs in TWB, actually. It damps the troughs, yes, but also (in my experience) flattens the peaks. It increases energy in a way that felt to me like 'productive worker bee' food (very Brave New World). And it kills the sex drive in a fairly high proportion of recipients. Tavia

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Re: [B7L] surveillance systems
by Tavia 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Nathan wrote: >The SIS advertised for positions the other day, for field officers. Hmm... I'd advise against applying... My ex-husband applied to work for GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters -- sort of the Civil Service end of M15...). After they offered him a job (nature unspecified), the positive vetting process took more than a year, in which they interviewed about 20 of our friends, including fairly intrusive questions about drug taking, sexual interests/positions/possible homosexuality, detailed finances, trips to Eastern bloc countries &c&c. They also asked for a complete listing of *my* life-time sexual partners, with addresses. They also appeared to follow some of our friends around. Frankly, I'd have been staggered if our phone hadn't been tapped.... And no, I am not joking or exaggerating. If only. > the UK's government allowing MI5 to snoop on emails I suspect the e-mail thing has been in operation for some time: several people who work for said organisation also use public-key-encrypted private e-mail and have done for years and years. Tavia

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Paediatricians
by Nathan Hook 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Or, in one infamous example, because you're a paediatrician. said Una. someone told me of an incident in the US a few years ago now, that a gentleman won a mayoral election race, due to a smear campaign he organised. it was entirely based on the use of words that could be misinterpreted or were not understood. he called the woman candidate a blatant thesbian, a known philanthropist and a string of other compliments and double meanings which were ill-interpreted by the local population. very amusing and all quite legal, but you can see the serious side of it and the danger of public ignorance and mob rule. Nathan. Nothings so difficult as a beginning/ In poesy, unless perhaps the end. Byron. ------------------------------------------------------------ Free, BeOS-friendly email accounts: http://BeMail.org/ Free Peepshow - http://twinfusion.com/comic/peep/

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