Comments on: This Week in Parliament

By: Tim Mattos

Tim Mattos — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 06:20:16 +0000

Why so? I agree that it seems a bit unfair and rather betraying said residents, and that there is some frustration involved that the police pick up on all the little things and perhaps underperform on the major issues….but I still can’t justify being offended by the fact that they were caught breaking the law….its like saying that the police shouldn’t arrest someone if they were off their usual patrol route at the time they saw the crime!

By: jane

jane — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 07:42:57 +0000

But the point is the cameras were put there for a declared purpose i.e protecting the residents from burglary, etc but are being used by the authorities for a different purpose, i.e monitoring the residents. Enforcement needs to be concentrated on major crime not the easy to catch variety.

By: Tim Mattos

Tim Mattos — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 03:07:30 +0000

That is a very good point. I do agree that they won’t have any useful proactive purpose. Which is a shame.

However I see no reason to be scared of them. Think how useful it would be if they were accepted as proper final proof if ID – opening bank accounts and all that sort of thing would become much less hassle, none of this “bring two pieces of ID” fiasco.

I rather think it’s inevitable anyway. Which is unfortunate because I don’t like the whole idea of being microchipped and every single movement logged in some giant government database, like you see in films like Minority Report – which sadly is going to happen to us one day. Any data on an ID card is already recorded about you somewhere anyway – banks, passport, birth certificate….

Your point about the CCTV ‘misuse’ – minor it may be, but parking offences are infractions too, that’s why they are offences. Silly little ones that don’t matter in the scheme of things, comparably, but I’m not sure we can complain about people being caught for them. Admittedly, there is always the argument that the police surely have more serious issues to be working on…….but you can’t draw that line. If you stop cracking down on the little laws just to focus on the big ones, they’ll just get bigger.

By: Jane Mace

Jane Mace — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:46:38 +0000

Tim! Identity cards a good thing!!!
In order to not fear identity cards you have to trust the government. (Not this government in particular, any government now, or in the future). Civil servants will use the information collected as they see fit. We have a recent example in the UK of the police using CCTV erected to protect areas against crime to identify and issue fines for minor parking offences instead! Identitiy cards will not stop terrorism or serious crime, just inconvenience the law abiding minority who won’t be able to buy a stamp without one.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 21:25:36 +0000

As someone who plans to rely on people visiting pubs and clubs to make a living, I have been keen to note the halfway house operated in Canada. Smoking is banned in all public enclosed spaces, but pubs are allowed to operate smoking rooms. This has not discouraged anyone from smoking, but instead most bars are now two, identical, smaller bars, and people who smoke socialise only with people who smoke and vice versa. The level of smoking has seen no real change.

The ID cards confuse me. I think they are a great idea, but if they are voluntary then there is no point in having them. I think they should be made mandatory over the age of 16 and you should only have to pay for replacement ones. Why is everybody so scared of having to have an ID card? You don’t necesarily have to have it with you at all times, but just be able to present it upon official request – like driving licences when you get pulled over and have a certain period of time to present your licence at the station. Are people scared of having an identity? I don’t see how being able to prove your identity equates to the Big Brother state people seem to think it does.

And for all you folk in Europe – for more on this interesting issue, make sure you see V for Vendetta when it comes out!!