Friday, August 7, 2009

Real Life Headlines - Big Brother Plot Hook

An Orson Wells dream come to life, the UK is coming forth with privacy invasion that you only though possible in science fiction. Here's some inspiration for you next modern or sci-fi campaign!

"The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren’t reading a passage from George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called “Family Intervention Projects” which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular “home checks” to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract."


Check out the full article here.

5 comments:

Punning Pundit said...

I could be wrong, but are they doing this _instead_ of removing children and placing them in protective custody? If so, it seems more humane than current American practice.

Storyteller said...

My understanding from the article however was that these surveillance devices would be installed in many homes without regard for past offenses, etc. In America, children only get taken into protective custody if they are in an actively abusive home that has been reported to the police. Regardless, if a child is being beaten by their parents, I'd rather them be taken somewhere safe rather then left in an abusive home with cameras watching them and invading their privacy.

Punning Pundit said...

Yeah, that article was long on fear mongering and short on details. I think we can agree that if the cameras are being placed in homes without a compelling reason to do so, that this would be _very_ bad...

Mark said...

Yeah, I'm really not all too short about this article being true or to what extent. The site itself seems to go a little bit for the big headlines and I can't find any other articles online referring to these "Family Intervention Projects." I'd have to think I'd at least get hits for something this big.

Still an awesome idea to go off of for an rpg game, though.

Storyteller said...

I'm sure it's full of lies, but still entertains me :)