Posted on 03/23/2009 8:54:16 AM PDT by BGHater
They already track innocent citizens' movements with CCTV, are in cahoots with police over speed cameras, and have been using powers supposed to tackle terrorism to put tails on people suspected of minor 'crimes'.
Now local authorities are putting spy planes in the air to snoop on homeowners who are wasting too much energy.
The data is being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take.
A scheme is already underway in Broadland District Council in Norfolk, which has spent £30,000 hiring a plane with a thermal imaging camera.
It said the exercise has been so successful other local authorities are planning to follow suit.
But critics have warned the crackdown was another example of local authorities extending their charter to poke their noses into every aspect of people's lives.
Broadland, which covers towns including Aylsham, Reepham and Acle, hired the plane from a Leicestershire-based company for five days at the end of January.
The aircraft took images of homes and businesses, with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue.
The council's head of environmental services, Andy Jarvis, said the original plan was to target businesses but it was realised the scope could be extended to include residental properties.
'The project we put together was for a plane to go up on various nights flying strips of the district and taking pictures,' he said.
'Through those images, a thermal image photograph can be created in which you can pick out individual properties which are losing a lot of heat.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I would think it would be a lot cheaper and easier to just look at someone’s utility bills. I guess this is as good an excuse to fly over suspect areas as any though.
Something straight out of the movie ‘V for Vendetta’.
Doubleplusungood..
Uh, let’s see here. We ‘re going to fly over your house, and burn fossil fuel, creating more pollution and those so called “greenhouse” gasses, at your expense, to find who is wasting energy.
Yup! Makes perfect sense to me.
This is what happens when malevolent bureaucrats get a free hand and plenty of money. Tyranny.
I’ll bet a SAM would really show up well on their monitor.
Another case of Big Brother knows best. Individual liberty and freedom are vanishing right before our eyes.
In the United States, the USSC had a case where police were using infrared cameras without obtaining a warrent in order to look inside homes.
The USSC said the warrent rules appled and the police did not get a free pass because technology has improved.
That would be KYLLO V. UNITED STATES
You read my mind!
Just kidding about this, but does anyone have any shoulder fired stingers left over?
While this may will be a useful service and one that someone might actually want to pay for (I’d be glad to find ways to lower my bills) it is very disturbing to have your gov’t decide on their own what services you need and then deliver them to you at tax payer expense.
It’s our money to waste, so Norfolk County Council can take a hike.
“with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue”
Funny. Red vs Blue redux....
This will be great for locating the hot tub and pool parties, and letting them have it for not inviting the Council Officer (hall monitor). One of the most intense sources of envy for many leftists, going back to elementary school, is not being invited to someone's party.
My thoughts exactly. This will be coming to the US. Give our feudal lords an inch, they'll take a mile., and the people will be BEGGING for it in the name of "safety."
And the politicians, whether they're doing it "for the children" or to mitigate "global warming" or someother ruse, make no mistake, its always a ruse. The UK politicians don't care about protecting the environment in the least. Its all about CONTROL. The Age of Tyranny is here.
>and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take.
how about telling them to kiss your ass instead?
no balls left there, either?
Redeyes would be better; they're cheaper, available, and their IR is still decent for older tech.
I think about two weeks ago there was a thread here on this latest UK Big-Brother intrusion — the cops busted down a guy’s door because the big heat-detector in the sky concluded he was growing marijuana, but it turns out it was a faulty furnace.
That story had something for everyone here on FR — JBT’s and a no-knock raid, Big Brother encroachment, and technology (willfully) being used for other purposes.
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