1.Cameras made by a chinese-state affiliated company have been installed
2.They are equipped with facial recognition and are used in totalitarian regimes
3.The company, Dahua, has a track record of severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities
With its imposing red brick houses, neat gardens and red postbox, Baskerville Road in the borough of Wandsworth is a classic example of family residences in the more affluent areas of London.
But something is amiss. Just outside a house on the corner, which happens to be the former home of World War I-era prime minister David Lloyd George, is a new piece of infrastructure that would seem more suited to the perimeter of a maximum security prison or a detention camp.
It is a disturbingly anthropomorphic CCTV camera, with two lenses that resemble eyes and two other indeterminate features that serve as the nose and mouth; and it hangs from a pole ringed with spikes to protect its hardware from would-be thieves or vandals.
Indeed, two of these rather sinister-looking structures — which appear to double as street lamps — have been installed on Baskerville Road, where homes fetch up to £10 million.
“But with at least six million CCTV cameras in the UK — one for every 11 people — the UK now ranks alongside China in terms of its surveillance capacity”
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h/t Rimless French Toilets