European Union calls villainous youth repellent 'inhumane'

[Umbrage]

It seems whenever technology has a solution, humanism (whether it's dressed up as religion or politics) wants it destroyed.

European Union could ban 'Mosquito' devices because they infringe children's human rights

‘Mosquito’ devices which emit high-pitched whine to help disperse teenagers from street corners could be banned by the European Union on the grounds that they infringe children’s human rights. A committee of MEPs voted unanimously for a Europe-wide ban on the marketing, sale and use of the Mosquito acoustic youth dispersal devices in all public places. They said the devices treat young people “as if they were unwanted birds or pests” and that their use was tantamount to degrading treatment prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The committee said the devices also constituted a “disproportionate interference with the right to respect for one’s private life, including the right to respect for one’s physical integrity”. The devices could even contravene the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular regarding health and safety. It sends out a powerful acoustic signal audible to almost all young people under the age of 20 years but barely noticeable to anyone over the age of 25. Teenagers exposed to this type of noise are forced to leave the immediate area.

The committee called for further medical tests on the effects of the devices, although there is no evidence of health risks associated with this device. It said: “It is not known, for instance, what impact high-frequency noise has on unborn children. The ‘precautionary principle’ must therefore apply.”

The “Mosquito” device is currently marketed and used in the United Kingdom, where 3,500 devices are deployed, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It sends out a powerful acoustic signal audible to almost all young people under the age of 20 years but barely noticeable to anyone over the age of 25. MEPs will discuss further the proposal in June.

Last month, Sir Al Aynsley Green, the children’s commissioner, said the UK’s poor treatment of youngsters had brought Britain into disrepute overseas. A powerful symbol of the country’s low opinion of children was the Mosquito, he added.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/7422709/European-Union-could-ban-Mosquito-devices-because-they-infringe-childrens-human-rights.html

For an example of what the Mosquito tone sounds like download this WAV file.

I'm planning terrorist attacks by playing these sounds over the speakers during Slipknot concerts, but that's besides the point. Europe should allow this technology to make their streets safer. It has been used for years already and it hasn't been proven that it causes any health risks.

[Dylar]

What, so Pakis with corner stores can get rid of loiterers?  C'mon, man.

[Umbrage]

What, so Pakis with corner stores can get rid of loiterers?  C'mon, man.

Are you here to discuss things or just to show off your ignorance?

[More Celt Than Sassenach]

How does this make anyone safer? Can one simply not commit crimes in every area where one is not in place or even if you were determined enough to commit crime in spite of these devices? All it would do is to prevent any kind of youth congregation in that area for any reason, something I believe to be an infringement on peoples right to assembly. I have seen in New Zealand these devices are only used to prevent congregations of peaceful but ''menacing' looking people  (metal heads, goths, emos etc) from forming in public.

[Dylar]

What, so Pakis with corner stores can get rid of loiterers?  C'mon, man.

Are you here to discuss things or just to show off your ignorance?

What is there to discuss in this? You've melodramatically made this an attack on the security of Europe, when the device amounts to little more than a tool to help shopkeepers avoid a personal nuisance.

[Thamuz]

Maybe the real solution to all of this lies a few feet beneath the earth amongst a colony of ants?

[Umbrage]

What, so Pakis with corner stores can get rid of loiterers?  C'mon, man.

Are you here to discuss things or just to show off your ignorance?

What is there to discuss in this? You've melodramatically made this an attack on the security of Europe, when the device amounts to little more than a tool to help shopkeepers avoid a personal nuisance.

Melodramatic is a pretty bold statement. Care to back it up with an argument? If you don't want to discuss this then why did you reply? You seem to be one fueling this thread with drama, not me.

There are plenty of areas in Europe that are turning into gangland. Ever read any newspapers?

Tools like this are safer than bullets, teargas, tasers, you name it. I really don't see what's wrong with it. It's the advanced technology itself that scares people. Meanwhile trains filled with toxic crap are riding through their city every day and nobody gives a shit. Wake up.

[Noumenon]

In a healthy society we would not be afraid of this frankenstein youth we have created. I wish I could live in such a society but I live in the UK where we really are that bad - the "youth" that is.

[Ratatosk]

I'd like to see the numbers of shops with these devices and how many of them have been vandalized due to the sound. If I were still a teenager and I heard this you can bet that I would make that place a target. Teenage logic, in league with boredom and a sense of repression/powerlessness and a desire to be badass for social reasons, would dictate that these devices prove too costly.

[Dylar]

Melodramatic is a pretty bold statement. Care to back it up with an argument?

Since you have so far declined to provide a substantive argument explaining how this has any meaningful impact on "safety," why should I?  In the absence of any evidence for your alarmist claims, how could anyone consider them anything but melodramatic?

There are plenty of areas in Europe that are turning into gangland. Ever read any newspapers?

How does this have any bearing on the use of the mosquito, which is basically an anti-loitering device?  You're making as much sense as the jackass reporter who, in the wake of Columbine, asked the Clinton-era Secretary of Education if the administration would push for a national dress code to help prevent future school shootings.

[scourge]

RACITS!!1!

[Cargést]

That is a bizarrely effective sound.  I might put it on my iPod to see if I can get myself used to it.  Or just put the thing on shuffle, lull myself into a false sense of security with some nice, peaceful Extreme Metal, and then shit bricks.

[Noumenon]

In a failing civilisation, the youth are going to be volatile, especially with the "education" we are given today. With everyone equal we have nothing to strive for. Just look at video games - competition and heirachy (rankings) increases motivation; putting stupid people in the same group as the smart kids (they did this at my school) in order to motivate them just surpresses the smarter kids. Now we have this situation where, instead of realising that we practically create the behaviour of the next generation, we are instead working from effect to cause and waging war on our own youth. I'm losing faith fast.

[nothingnowhere]

There are plenty of areas in Europe that are turning into gangland. Ever read any newspapers?

Cause and effect.

[Sammaellofi]

That is a bizarrely effective sound.  I might put it on my iPod to see if I can get myself used to it.  Or just put the thing on shuffle, lull myself into a false sense of security with some nice, peaceful Extreme Metal, and then shit bricks.

The false security between Morbid Angel and Asphyx?