Talking CCTV cameras with child voiceovers smack of Orwellian control, says brendan o’neill |
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Tony Blair's government has completed its transformation into Big Brother: it is recruiting children to spy on the adult population.
Many were disturbed when Home Secretary John Reid announced earlier this month that 'talking' CCTV
cameras will be introduced in 20 towns and cities across Britain. Reminiscent of the telesecreen
that so tormented Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984, these cameras will not only spy on us, they will
tell us off, too. Even more disturbing, however, is the fact that the Government wants goody-two-shoes
children to provide the authoritarian voice for the cameras.
Reid, together with the Respect Taskforce, has launched a poster-making competition in schools. The
child who designs the best poster that 'challenges anti-social behaviour' will win the prize of
becoming the voice of the talking CCTV in their town or city for one day
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| Children will win the prize to become the voice of the talking CCTV in their town for a day |
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later this year: the all-important day of 'switch on', when the cameras 'go live'.
According to the Respect Taskforce, this is about "encouraging children to use their pester power, in a positive way".
This isn't the first time the Government has harnessed the 'pester power' of the young to reshape the behaviour of the old. Last year, a report proposed urging schoolchildren to educate their parents about eco-living, in the hope that this would generate a 'cultural shift' among the population.
The Department of Health has used the children of lung cancer-stricken mums and dads in its anti-smoking ads. As the GP and author Dr Michael Fitzpatrick said, turning kids into an instrument of the campaign to deter adults from smoking is "reminiscent of totalitarian regimes".
Indeed it is. In 1984, Winston Smith hates those "horrible children" who spy on everyone, including their parents. In Smith's world of Big Brother and child spies, "it was almost normal for people over 30 to be frightened of their own children". 
FIRST POSTED APRIL 14, 2007
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