What does this story mean? Probably that Orwell just wasn’t paranoid enough…
Children as young as seven are being recruited by councils to act as ‘citizen snoopers’, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The ‘environment volunteers’ will report on litter louts, noisy neighbours – and even families putting their rubbish out on the wrong day.
There are currently almost 9,000 people signed up to the schemes. More are likely to be recruited in the coming months.
Controversially, some councils are running ‘junior’ schemes which are recruiting children.
After basic training, volunteers are expected to be the ‘eyes and the ears’ of the town hall.
They are given information packs about how to collect evidence, including tips about writing down numberplates, which could later be used in criminal prosecutions.
Luton Borough Council’s Street Seen scheme encourages its 650 volunteers to report ‘environmental concerns’. It is also recruiting ‘Junior Street Champions’, aged between seven and 11.
The notion that any “free” nation would use this sort of snooping is revolting. The previous “innovation” of British surveillance society, the surveillance camera, is taking root — can turning children into spies for the state be far behind?
Denounce your neighbors, win Great Prizes!
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Right out of the communist Chinese playbook (not to mention the playbooks of every dictator and despot you can think of). First it is rubbish, then it is reporting on those speaking out against the young president. Maybe listening to talk radio will be next!