WRITTEN ON May 30th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Design: Co-creation, Foundation of Trust, What do we want?
Sousveillance has a new brand name in the UK: FitWatch. This is not an organisation, but the tactic of filming the Met Police Forward Intelligence Teams and sharing photos, badge numbers and names. The blog is here.
Being photographed by the police is intrusive and unpleasant (my main experience of it is at the Lewes bonfire night), though it seems in some very difficult cases to be effective (see “harrass a hoodie”). And it’s clear the police don’t take kindly to being photographed. This leads to antagonism and an uncomfortable standoff between the forces of law (whose salaries, pensions and sick leave we all pay) and the generally law-abiding taxpayer. It’s far from Ideal.
Wibbi (given that there is crime and antisocial behaviour and that the police are in the front line of protecting the rest of us from it): the police accepted or were taught that transparency is mutual; that they should be prepared to accept it if they are conducting themselves correctly; that the police vs demonstrators encounter was less us v them against a Kafkaesque legal background that no-one understands and more a case of both police and demonstrators conforming to laws that all understand and generally respect.
Meanwhile let us watch Fitwatch, and hope that it and other such initiatives proceed in a peaceful and constructive manner. And maintain a sense of humour – see below:
6 Responses to “Sousveillance v surveillance: Fitwatch”
Yes, they burn the Pope and much else besides. Is it illegal to burn the Pope in effigy?
What is banned since around WW1 is the Lewes Rouser, a particularly loud firework they used to let off in the street. But they manage to make plenty of noise nonetheless…
“Is it illegal to burn the Pope in effigy?”
Surely it’s incitement to religious hatred, isn’t it? You can’t just go around burning effigies of religious leaders can you? That’s why the plod were photographing you…
If you don’t like the effigies that we burn in Lewes on bonfire night then the answer is simple: DON’T come, we won’t miss a miserable sod who is all Politically Correct
Hey Gaz. At least the people who devise the effigies have a sense of humour 🙂
I think they’re consistently the best political satire on display. And we regular visitors cheerfully accept the grumpy inhospitability of the locals as part of the whole deal.
Hey, a few years ago you could barely get a refreshment there for love nor money…
“(my main experience of it is at the Lewes bonfire night),”
Isn’t the Lewes bonfire night different from all other bonfire nights in that they actually burn effigies of the Pope? Isn’t this illegal?