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UK City Installs ‘Giant Eyes’ To Spy On Citizens; Public Thinks It’s A Great Idea
This BBC news report is depressing in more ways than one…
Advertising screens shaped like enormous human eyes have been installed in Birmingham, England, reported the BBC this week. The screens, which sit above three entrances to a newly-designed rail station in the city, have a dual purpose: firstly, to scan passers-by in order to try sell them the right kind of sh*t they don’t need, and secondly to record their every move.
“They use cutting-edge facial recognition technology to profile groups of passengers and shoppers before picking which adverts to display,” explains the anchor. The eyes are made up of 500+ individual television screens, which act as “hidden cameras that will effectively look at people as they come in and out of the station.” These cameras are sophisticated enough to determine the gender, age and demographic group of individuals as they walk by, and will be the biggest ever installed in the UK when the train station re-opens next month.
But the blatantly Orwellian design of the screens- which seem to say ‘Yes suckers, Big Brother is watching you, and at this point he’s not even hiding the fact’- isn’t the worst thing about this news. What’s even more disturbing than these intrusive gigantic digital eyes is the general public’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to the issue of mass surveillance. Here are the comments a reporter heard while asking passers-by their opinions:
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://www.philosophers-stone.co.uk/?p=2698
