Despite fears over the erosion of privacy in the United Kingdom, new spy drones have taken to the British skies.  Originally used for military purposes, the small, remote control helicopters are now overhead, beginning in Merseyside.

…senior officers in Merseyside, who are trialling the drone, said they did not believe it was the next phase in creating a Big Brother society.

Assistant chief constable Simon Byrne said: “People clamour for the feeling of safety which cameras give.

CCTV, spy drones, DNA lists, and anything else the British government can think of only make you feel safer.  They really don’t make you safer.  But at least the sheeple feel better and the media has their daily sound bite to make others feel better.

“Obviously there is a point of view that has been expressed but our feedback from the public is anything we can do to fight crime is a good thing.

There is a reason why many people are skeptical.  There is little transparency as to the use of the spy drones [video].  There also appears to be little oversight on their use.  There is also the very real, long-term effect of the police becoming so reliant on the spy drones that they forego the time tested policy of employing the local citizenry in helping to fight crime.

We still know very little from the July 7th bombers.  Sure, their identities were pieced together via one or two cameras in London, but we know virtually nothing about them or their whereabouts before they entered London.  The attempted attackers were able to escape despite the use of so many cameras.  With these two instances, you’d have to be a moron to believe that any of this is evidence that CCTV cameras work as they should.

“There are safeguards in place legally covering the use of CCTV and the higher the level of intrusion, the higher the level of authority needed within the police force to use it. So there is that balance there.”

Oh, okay then.  Since you say there’s a balance and you won’t misuse it, I’ll believe you.  There is still little evidence as to who controls the CCTV cameras or where the video and photographic evidence ends up.  Most do not even know how long the videos and photographs are stored before they are purged.

There is a large question pertaining to morality when implementing such devices as CCTV and spy drones.  People who would normally walk through life without their private lives being scrutinized, will now be forced to behave differently solely because they know that they will be on some sort of video 24/7.

Take, for instance, the shop in Texas, whose employee is going to end up on the sex offenders list because she sold a vibrator.  While some people would think purchasing such an item is morally reprehensible, others do not.  But how many people would now be reluctant to even enter the store, knowing that they will be recorded as doing so and risk being arrested because of an overly strict interpretation of the law?

These spy drones may make the police’s jobs more efficient, but are we really willing to sacrifice our privacy to make the police a little bit more efficient, especially when there is little to no evidence that they work?  And, since the police and the government are supposed to be serving the people, not using their positions to pursue their own private agendas, can we really trust them to do the right thing?  From J. Edgar Hoover, to Nixon, to George Bush, we have seen new technologies abused and used to further some twisted ideas against the very people they were put into place to protect.

At the end of the day, is there anyone who actually believes that these spy drones are being put into place for the betterment of society?  This is more control, added to the numerous controls already in place in the United Kingdom.  Just chalk this up to a nice little addition to the laws that will require British citizens to acts as agents of the government and report people who might be criminals.  At least we aren’t under the illusion that they are there to help us.

The world of going into public and remaining largely anonymous is quickly disappearing.  Not only is the government watching you, your fellow citizens are only far to happy to watch you, as well as law enforcement officials.  We seem to be a planet full of watching others screw up only so we can film them and gain fame from what others do.  While I still believe that foot patrols and an actual police presence, with live humans, is far more effective on crime, I fear that we may never return to the time of the beat cop, forcing us all to get used to being photographed while gardening or hanging out the laundry.