Catch a thief from your armchair and win cash

Here is the latest from the UK:

Anyone who owns a laptop computer can now fight crime from the safety of their home and win cash prizes for catching thieves red-handed, under a new British monitoring scheme that went live this week.

The service works by employing an army of registered armchair snoopers who watch hours of CCTV footage from cameras in stores and high street venues across the country.

Viewers can win up to 1,000 pounds ($1,600) in cash a month from Devon-based firm Internet Eyes, which distributes the streaming footage, when offenders are caught in the act.

For the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald, who has just published a new book on the sports writing of Gay Talese. 

From another front, S.S. sends me this link for "the culture that is Britain."