Over the years a number of Ruthie’s clients have sagely informed her that they wear tin foil hats at home to stop the government reading their thoughts. Having heard many strange things over the years that subsequently transpired to be true, it never occurred to Ruthie to disagree. Had the same clients informed Ruthie that the Council had planted a computer chip in their wheelie bin to monitor their rubbish, Ruthie would have assimilated the comment with marginally less credulity.
But, as a thousand management consultants echo in unison, assuming makes an ass out of you and me. It is apparently true that Councils are conducting covert surveillance on our rubbish to identify those properties where bins are overweight and therefore containing material that ought to be recycled. This monitoring is conducted by means of a chip inserted under the lip of the bin which reacts to a sensor on the side of the rubbish cart.
Ruthie scents a breach of article 8 (Right to Privacy) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Surely the contents of my rubbish bin ought to be private and not subject to covert assessment?
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