Sunday, 3 July 2011

Who is watching the watchers?

When I started working in DVLNI back in the 1970’s we used to do everything manually (or rather womanly). The lads ruled the roost. It was the norm to be sexually harassed. It was seen as great sport to try and pull a female colleagues bra out her sleeve or try and get her jeans off. Nowadays some people may think that a so called un-PC remark is bad. They want to have lived through the 1970’s and 80’s. Apparently after a meeting the top brass were debating what I was wearing under my dress. They know who they are and shame on them! It scarred me for life.

The annual census required us to pull files out and record the details of every 10th. I was quite a climber. Nowadays it is all done by computer. Computerisation was a difficult transition in the 1980’s. No expense was spared as computerisation progressed. It was a slow process to update it in the 1990’s. Nowadays there are all manner of recognition gadgets and outsourcing so that revenue is generated and private companies benefit from government contracts. For example, private enterprises have been tasked with parking. They are extremely well paid for both the management of car parks and the enforcement of parking restrictions.   

On their Website NSL say:

       The effectiveness of enforcement strategies is largely down to the performance of people, so we have developed a sophisticated psychometric test that ensures we get the right people for enforcement tasks.

Oh my goodness. Psycho(metric)! The Alfred Hitchcock movie comes to mind.

Even though I am taxed and insured I think I’ll walk into town from now on just in case I might park over a white line somewhere.

The concept of psychometric testing is a tool to enable employers to establish if a potential employee has the right mind set for the job. It is also a tool that can be used to recruit people with aggressive tendencies. I wonder if the PSNI use the service. People who are licensed to carry lethal weapons should be vetted. If it is only Traffic Wardens who get the Psych test then we have to question the government’s mind-set.    

I urge you to look up NSL on the Internet. Their pitch shocked me to the core. I often get cross with drivers who double park and go into stores and block petrol pumps while they are browsing, but this company scares the wheels off me. That is only my opinion of course. Perhaps there are many people who endorse their strategy.

They have access to our data and I am a tad concerned about that. I could be wrong but I thought that the Data Protection Act protected my information and in order for the government to sell it on or share it with third parties I should have been asked for my permission first.  

I suspect clamping is in my future.

      

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