Allaying ‘Big Brother’ fears
COMMENT: From last October, the UK Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency no longer requires UK vehicle owners to exhibit on their respective vehicles a ‘tax disc’ – a unique piece of paper which basically tells all and sundry – not least marauding traffic wardens – that you have paid for your vehicle to be on the road for a specified period, writes Mike Mundy.
The death of the UK vehicle tax disc, after 93 years, basically signifies the end of the paper era of policing road tax and the competence of electronic surveillance in taking over this role. UK police and other agencies now have computers that use a camera to read a registration plate and check it on a database of cars that features tax, insurance and roadworthiness details. Allegedly, the UK population is the most ‘monitored’ population in the world and this appears to be one positive spin-off of this dubious distinction.
While it is possible to summon up shades of George Orwell’s 1984 when considering the vast array of technology now at the disposal of law enforcement and border protection agencies, it is also refreshing to note that modern technology is progressively playing a part in curtailing some major smuggling activities.
There have recently been some prominent examples of this including the discovery of 3,000 kilos of cocaine in a container in Rotterdam last year – the second largest captured cocaine shipment in the port of Rotterdam with a street value of $149m.
Then in February this year, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) seized more than 100 kilos of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of A$65m. The product was concealed under a false floor and but was discovered by the application of modern x-ray technology.
Also in February this year the European Anti-Fraud Office, acting on information from Turkish customs, advised Israeli customs services of a major shipment of counterfeit cigarettes about to move through the port of Haifa, Israel. This information was acted on and a special customs unit in Haifa was able to seize 10.2m counterfeit Gauloise cigarettes which were subsequently destroyed.
Such examples do go some way towards allaying fears about the presence of Big Brother both out in the ‘ether’ and at ports.