NEW monitoring technology won’t be used like in George Orwell’s novel 1984, the council has said.

As part of the Royal Borough’s ambitious transformation strategy to change council structure and services, cabinet councillors are looking at new technologies to ease service and financial pressures within adult social care.

One of these technologies is called MySense, which is a set of sensors placed in a person’s home where it will monitor a person’s daily routine and predict any issues. An approved network of family, friends, and trusted individuals will receive updates on a mobile app to aide pre-emptive decision-making.

Dave McFarlane, transformation project manager, said at a cabinet transformation sub-committee that this is not for the local authority to monitor people but to support long-term independent living.

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Out of the 140 eligible residents to trial the MySense technology, only seven people signed up. The people who accepted this offer said they wanted to live independent lives and reassure their family and friends that they are ok.

But a majority of people denied using it, believing it will be used to monitor them or for their data to be sold off to unscrupulous companies.

Slough Observer: George Orwell wrote the classic novel 1984 where people are sruveyed 24/7 by Big BrotherGeorge Orwell wrote the classic novel 1984 where people are sruveyed 24/7 by Big Brother

Mr McFarlane said only chosen friends, family, and trusted individuals of the person will be their responders and will only be installed with their consent.

Speaking at the meeting on Monday, May 9, he said: “I think there’s some fear that this is a Big Brother state trying to spy on me with this technology type of mentality, and what we’re really trying to push [and] promote is that no, this is your choice.

“If this will help you live independently, this is entirely up to you but it’s getting that message across and having conversations with those people.”

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He also said the person’s data is protected and won’t be sold or shared without their consent.

The technology has also been used by the NHS and other local authorities where trials have been proven successful.

Stories from people who have used the software as well as setting up chats between users and people who are curious about it could be set up to ease worries and provide factual information on MySense.