Can your local newspaper attach a name to you?

Title: Stinky spy: Trash bins as monitor

Writer: Liz Ruskin

Source: T-U Sunday edition, World section, Sunday Feb 25

I read this article and was fancinated and stunned at the same time. This article takes place in London. From what I understand the British do a lot of serviellance, but this took the cake and icing too. The are putting microchips in the trash bins, and using a flimsy excuse of monitoring collections and boosting the national recycling rate. Resding down further, London is one of the lowest in the country. They are trying to be sports about this by saying that big brother has gone too far. Their newspaper has attached the name Bin Brother to the situation, and headlines read "Germans Plant Bugs in our Wheelie Bins" referring to their trash bins. I am sorry that the T-U didn't put this article on line so I couldn't link it. Therefore I decided to type out the article for you because I found it that interesting. See article below:

LONDON -- The British tolerate millions of surveillance cameras watching their every public move. They agreed to let roadside cameras record their vehicular movements and store the information for two years. But when they discovered that their garbage is being bugged, they howled that Big Brother had gone too far.

Local governments have attached microchips to about 500,000 "wheelie bins," the trash cans that residents wheel to the curb for collection. The aim, they say, is to help monitor collections and boost the national recycling rate, now among the lowest in Europe.

The public has reacted with suspicion and fury.

"Germans Plant Bugs in Our Wheelie Bins," a Daily Mail healine announced in August. Two of the bin manufacturers are German. Newspaper letter writers have taken to calling it "Bin Brother."

A member of Parliament from London's Croydon neighborhood denounced the chip as "the spy in you bin."

"The Stasi or the KGB could never have dreamed of getting a spying device in every household," said Andrew Pelling, a Conservative, referring to the former East German and Soviet spy agencies.

Small-scale revolts have erupted across the United Kingdom for months as the technology has spread. Some towns failed to mention the feature.

In Bournemouth, Cyril Baker, 72, ripped the chip off his new bin, then went on national TV to show how he did it. Thousands of his neighbors followed suit.

"It was a very emotional issue," he said.

Nancy's Comments: I couldn't believe this article. I need not say more. The feeling I would get, being monitored constantly. That is a scary thought. Then there is the fact that the press could destroy you reputation by labeling you. Let's say you or one of you family was accused of being a murderer or kidnapper, and was labeled by a newspaper by giving you an offensive name. Then maybe 5 years later you were found innocent. That stigma would follow all of your life. I would guess that the paper would appologize, but the stigma would stay. Somehow I don't think that labeling should be allowed. I need to explain that the mention of the Germans was because a German manufacturer made the trash bins. This article amazed me. We Americans are complaining that we are vulnerable to highway camera's peeking at our driving. Let's hope we are not invaded by the invasion of our privacy with microchips any time soon. Please let me know how you feel...