The British government has placed millions of microchips in garbage bins to monitor the volume of waste, leading a privacy advocacy group to say it stinks.
Most of the devices have yet to be activated — as sure sign of their inevitable unpopularity, the group Big Brother Watch says.
The Associated Press recently interviewed its director Dylan Sharpe, who said: “They are waiting for the political climate to change before they start using them” — a reference to possible fines in the future for families that throw away large amounts of trash.
Local government frames it instead as a tool to reward households that reduce waste.
The chips are plugged into the British information grid, which includes widespread closed-circuit cameras and an extensive DNA database. It’s a controversial but effective system for tracking people’s movements that proponents say is vital to counterterrorism efforts, and detractors decry as Orwellian and a “nanny state.”
