200 Foot "Spy Zepplin" Patrolling Athens Skies - Named "Big Brother"

[matcom]

<snip>

ATHENS, Greece (Reuters) - Greek activists say a 200-foot surveillance zeppelin patrolling Olympic Athens tramples on civil rights and have launched legal action to ground it.

The blimp, dubbed Big Brother by local media, carries a battery of hi-tech sensors from spy cameras to chemical agent detectors and is part of Greece's $1.2 billion security plan.

"The zeppelin's flights are unconstitutional per se," said Maria Bossi, lecturer in International Security and International Terrorism in Athens' Panteion University, and one of two dozen signatories of a petition to ground the blimp.

"Based on laws safeguarding personal data, citizens must be informed that they are in a zone patrolled by the zeppelin and could be under surveillance."

The giant airship has been a big issue in leftist chat rooms, with users first ridiculing its inability to lift off for a week due to medium winds, and then proposing strategies to ground it.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20040806/od_nm/olympics_zeppelin_dc

[underpants]

1. Yeah them zeppelin's sure are sneaky huh?

They can creep up on ya from 500 feet at like 25 MPH. Never see them coming.