Freesound Forums

Simon - I cannot hear the sound even after download. Perhaps I am just TOO old! This thread seems to be very emotive. I understand LG's comments about the beneficial effect on the local community but this begs the perennial question - does the end justify the means. In this case I think not. Mark the young Scot really says it all. This device is an assault on all young people not just those who are moved on by it but all innocent youngsters. My main concern is "where will this sort of thing end"?

In a fictional EB.White story he writes of a country secures world domination by sending pilotless planes with huge speakers kicking out an repeating unendurable sound which immediatley sent the people insane allowing the Uruguay army to march in and take over. According to some people they would only have to play some of my horrible sounds once to get the same effect. And don't forget the film Mars Attacks where the alien invaders are defeated by playing the Indian Love Song to them which makes their heads explode!!!! Both these examples have a comic side but of course the mosquito device is capable of causing pain and harm and seems to be unregulated. The irony is that the many of the people who advocate its use would be the first to complain if youngsters set up a band in next door's garage and banged out some crude but cool rock music.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/02/15/026209.shtml

- bram

I understand that ERH and I don't consider myself an advocate of those devices but I tried to point out that the 'public' dimension of the public space is relative. The places I talked about where not considered public for the majority of people passing - even though it concerns metro stations and town squares. They were public to a limited group of people, i.e. the young people we talked about. Now the balance has shifted in favour of those people who were afraid to visit those places. This means limiting the access for young people.

The main question is indeed whether the means suit the end. It is draconian. It may very well lead to a downward spiral, an arms race and that would make things much worse. But this is how most people like it! The immediate (short-term) effect is that these places become 'public' again. There was a report on Dutch television yesterday about the application of the mosquito in Utrecht (Kanaaleiland) and respondents were very satisfied. Of course, no one asked the teenagers. Policy makers like this: easy to realise, instant success! The alternative is muddling through without clear and favourable results - even though 'favourable' is relative...

So - let's do some provocation here - how would you solve this issue in a different way?

(see, I like to play the devil's advocate! )

Okay - have checked out with a hearing specialist here in London and she is categorical that these Mosquito Device frequencies will cause no harm to hearing. (It's low frequencies that harm hearing as discussed in the forum.)

It doesn't make it any less an insipid thing. But it does mean it's not making kids deaf. Thank goodness.

Now - I really want to try and bring attention to how easy it's been for people to use sound as a weapon in a public space. I'm talking to a few people here in London and it would be really great to know where else they are.

Thanks for all the posts so far.

KJ

LG

So - let's do some provocation here - how would you solve this issue in a different way?

(see, I like to play the devil's advocate! )

The way I see it, agreeing on how we do NOT want to solve problems of coexistence is as important as getting effective solutions... a consensus should be achieved in that attacks to age groups taking advantage of their vulnerability (ability, in this case) is not fair play. Otherwise, the door is open to every type of selective discrimination in the future. For example, I can imagine a scenario in wich old people are kept away from, say, stores aimed at youngsters... by setting up barriers to persons with low mobility or otherwise handicaped !! Crazy, isn't ?? But possible.

So even though I tend to sympathize with past -prime guys (yeah, really hate these teenage cars with loud subwoofers), bugging youngsters with the Mosquito is not a solution and opens a dangerous way to confrontation.

What to do, then? Well, maybe nothing... Or the mosquito sound at stores could be replaced with any of the great samples at Freesound (crickets?) Yes, perhaps this is useless as regards annoying teenagers, but at least the store would provide a nice ambience which can be appreciated by all customers

D

Well "dépaneurs" around my neighborhood ( Don't know how to call them, some kind of 7-11, convenience stores, maybe) often play classical music on the front of the store to shoo off gatherings of teenagers just hanging there or waiting for someone to buy them alcohol. This is not taking in the fact that SOME teenagers (me) do like classical , but it's a better solution than playing a loud and very unpleasant sound that leaves your ears numb.

For those of you who can read Dutch - read this article over here: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/article2058402.ece It says that there are some 3000 mosquito's in the UK and 300 in the Netherlands. There is also a picture of the device The comments at the end of the article (scroll down) are revealing. It seems that those who respond really, really like the mosquito.

@ dobroide: yes, I can see that and I'm afraid we live in times when people really like retaliation and the mosquito is one of the symptoms. The point is that people don't really listen to each other - they only give their opinion and claim 'their rights' without caring about others.

As for the alternative solution, the municipality here also experimented with hiring street organs to keep the youngsters away. The mosquito proved to be cheaper...

LG
So - let's do some provocation here - how would you solve this issue in a different way?

(see, I like to play the devil's advocate! )

"This device is the complete antithesis of the freesound ethos and that of all freesounders - it is sound as weapon"

these are ERH's words and I fully agree. I hope someone goes after them for making and selling more useless BUT HARMFULL crap. If I knew this stuff was being done here in califorina (and I know its not) AND it was making my 2 half year old lose his hearing...to say the least..someone is going to lose their life and I sure as hell know its not gonna be me.