Reports from Britain a few months ago expressing concern over that country's vast and continuously expanding surveillance state were met with little reaction from the islands inhabitants - Daily Mail.  Officials from the Home Office emboldened by its citizens show of apathy headed back to the lab and reached into their Orwellian bag of tricks to pull out this latest doozy:  

 "As part of the most shocking extension of Big Brother powers ever planned here, lenses in lampposts would snap “naked” pictures of passers-by to trap terror suspects.

The proposal is contained in leaked documents drawn up by the Home Office and presented to PM Tony Blair’s working group on Security, Crime and Justice."

Source: The Sun

Not to be outdone by their cross Atlantic brethren North American cities are jumping on the big brother bandwagon too.  Police officials in Toronto are pushing their plan to place cameras in three parts of the city notorious for violence: 

"Toronto police are big on the use of surveillance cameras, but are going to great lengths to soothe any public concerns about privacy being invaded.

By May 1 the police service expects to roll out 15 cameras in three different areas of the city, but first they're conducting a series of public consultations across the city to sell their plan."

Source: Toronto Star

"Boston city councilors, law enforcement officials, and community leaders are pressing City Hall to come up with $1.5 million to buy a promising acoustic gunshot-detection system.

The sensor system could blanket a 5.6-square-mile swath of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods -- the source of 80 to 85 percent of calls citywide reporting shots fired -- and give officers a jump on arresting suspects, improve police response time to 911 calls, and possibly reduce firearm violence, proponents say"

Source: The Boston Globe