It would be equally interesting to find out how many people have read ‘1984′ (or even “Animal Farm”), but the Orwellian society has been around in the UK for some time now. This is London has an article all about this, with an ironic map plus some fabulous stats for all you Big Brothers out there…

According to the latest studies, Britain has a staggering 4.2million CCTV cameras – one for every 14 people in the country – and 20 per cent of cameras globally. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily.

As BoingBoing commented…

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

In Czech republic, in contrast, whilst there are many cameras it isn’t legal to record these movements so the feeds are for live purposes only. There is a strong oppositions (or unease) in countries like Czech Republic and Germany who have at one time been under totalitarian suppression for there to be such monitoring than is necessary. What makes me uncomfortable is that this has creeped into society without legislation, and is a far more reactionary “solution” to perceived problems rather than prevention at source (or simply stopping these problems from happening in the first place). Why does a so-called free, democratic society need so much surveillance, is it simply so unsafe that these measures are needed.

Personally I am glad to be outside of such a society.

[This is London]