Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Has Big Brother got too big for his boots?

Winston Smith | 22.07.2004 17:13 | Social Struggles

Residents of council owned tower blocks in Stockport, Cheshire have recently decided Big Brother is getting just a little bit too big for his boots.

There is growing opposition to a recent “upgrading” of the security system, which has led to the introduction of “electronic pac fobs” (plus a few extra CCTV cameras for good measure) in place of the old key system. “WTF is an electronic pac fob?” you may ask. Well, it’s basically a swipe “key”, which as stated in the letter which was delivered with the fob from the local Housing Office, is “…assigned to you, the tenant. The use of this fob is monitored and if it appears that someone else is using the fob instead of you, then the fob will be cancelled…” Each fob contains the tenants surname and flat number so on entering security now know who you are and where you are going which in turn also means they know which flat has just been vacated as you leave the building! All visitors have to gain access through security stating who they are, thereby allowing the monitoring of visitors as well as tenants.

This however raises many issues, including breach of local housing tenancy agreements, personal security and Human Rights. Tenants in flats no longer have equal rights to those tenants in council houses as they can no longer give their front door “key” to whoever they choose, for whatever reasons they choose. Examples given in a leaflet produced by and distributed to tenants include ”… if you are on holiday, in hospital or bed ridden… …you can no longer give your key to a friend or relative in order that they might gain access to your home even though you yourself have authorised them!” One tenant has already had their fob blocked for dropping it down from their flat window to a relative to allow them to gain access.

Tenants are being encouraged to swap fobs with other tenants within their block on a regular basis so as to preserve access but render the ability to monitor inoperable, which is within their rights as key holders! The matter has also been taken up by the local Law Centre who state that “the council may be breaking your tenancy agreement if they are saying you cannot pass the fob to people you authorise” and also “Article 8 of the Human Rights Act provides that everyone has the right to respect for his/her private and family life…Privacy includes such things as personal data, photographs, CCTV and video recordings. Respect for the home includes the right to occupy it without interference.”

This system certainly isn’t exclusive to this area; any other tenants experiencing the same invasion of privacy are encouraged to follow a similar line of action. If this became a national issue, rather than a confined local matter it would add strength to the opposition of the Big Brother state nationally.

For exchange of ideas and information please contact  mrwinstonsmith@msn.com

Winston Smith

Comments

Display the following 14 comments

  1. just smash it up — gordon bennet
  2. info — capt wardrobe
  3. more — cw
  4. and theres more — cw
  5. more — cw
  6. of course — cw
  7. Thanx Capt! — Winston Smith
  8. more — cw
  9. more — cw
  10. common problem — heather
  11. more info please heather — cw
  12. slowly slowly....... — Winston Smith
  13. link here — cw
  14. where is this all leading us? — capt wardrobe
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech