UK: "Mosquito" told to buzz off
01 January 2008
In February 2008 the Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, launched the "Buzz Off" campaign and called for the banning of the controversial "Mosquito" audio device designed to disperse groups of children (see
Statewatch Vol 16 No 1). The device, also known as the "Sonic Teen Deterrent", indiscriminately targets individuals within a 15-metre radius by emitting an ultra-sonic tone at a frequency only those under the age of 25 can fully hear (the human ear's capacity to hear upper frequency sounds begins to decline past this age).
At the launch, Aynsley-Green argued that the estimated 3,500 devices in use:
are indiscriminate and target all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are behaving or misbehaving.
He claimed they also serve to "demonise children" and are "a powerful symptom of what I call the malaise at the heart of society". He later told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme:
I'm very concerned about what I see to be an emerging gap between the young and the old, the fears, the intolerance, even the hatred, of the older generation towards the young
Liberty, who helped launch the campaign, argue that the device is a disproportionate response to loitering and are deployed under the presumption that young people will act irresponsibly. The organisation's director, Shami Chakrabarti, said:
Imagine the outcry if a device was introduced that caused blanket discomfort to people of one race or gender, rather than to our kids...The Mosquito has no place in a country that values its children and seeks to instil them with dignity and respect
Liberty believes that a legal challenge would prove successful, specifically via the Environmental Protection Act 1990. And
The Observer has previously reported that Aynsley-Green is willing to take a test case to court to question their legality. He also announced, at the launch, that he is planning to contact MPs and local authorities to highlight his concerns, and asked the public to report the whereabouts of Mosquito devices to him so that he can map their locations.
www.children's commissioner.org; The Guardian 12/02/08; The Independent 12/02/08; Telegraph 13/02/08; www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk