Public Surveillance

Public surveillance is a topic that many of us already have existing knowledge in. By living in the United States, we see a lot of surveillance cameras everywhere we go, and we might not even realize it. There are cameras at intersections, at the bank, school, and there are some that are capturing just random people walking down the street. Some of this is a good thing, and some of it is not. Luckily for us, living in the United States, we are not being watched as much as the people in Europe.

Britain, being known as the most watched society in the world, has 4.2 million security cameras, and a typical person makes an estimated 300 closed-circuit television appearances a day. This is definitely taken to an extreme. And how useful is it? Not very. One reason this is not a very effective tool is when it comes to criminal acts. The person doing these acts is usually smart enough to destroy the camera, or to make sure the capture doesn't capture his image in some way. It is rare that surveillance cameras do a good enough job capturing the suspect to a point where no further evidence is needed.

One way that people are against public surveillance is the misuse of images. People are using images taken from surveillance footage for their own benefits such as creating videos, even movies with a story line using these images. In Britain, in 2008, it was said that for about $80 at any electronics store and some technical know-how, it's possible to tap into London's CCTV hotspots with a simple wireless receiver.



In the video posted above, the British Transport Police is confronted about video surveillance and the police is caught lying. The man in the video, Mark Thomas, asks the police if they have been video taping the area. Thomas goes on to talk to the Police and says that any individual is able to own a tape recording the public. The police officer says that he didn't know that. Thomas then goes into the nearby building and sees the British Transport police recording video. The police outside obviously lied, and the officer inside says he does know that anyone is able to obtain the video and about the process that takes place in order to do so. I think it's crazy that anyone has access to the random surveillance video taken in public! It doesn't help when you have a stalker or just some creepy person watching you is able to get these tapes of you for free. You don't have to tell the police the reason you want the tapes, they are yours.



This is a trailer for a British movie from 2008 called Surveillance 24/7. It is about a gay teacher, Adam, who gets swept up in a national scandal when his handsome and mysterious one-night stand shows up dead. In his desperate race to discover the killer, Adams every move is tracked through the streets of London. I have not seen this film since I just discovered the trailer for it, but it looks very interesting. Every move this man makes is recorded on CCTV.



I found this video hilarious, a surveillance camera caught a bride cheating on her soon to be husband with the best man! I could go on and on posting these funny videos that surveillance cameras have caught.

I believe most people are convinced of the effectiveness of video surveillance and may even feel a certain amount of comfort in knowing that it adds to their sense of personal safety. They understand that their chances of being a victim of crime are reduced when they find themselves in an area monitored with cameras. Also,video surveillance is more about deterrence than it is about evidence collection. Red light cameras do catch drivers in the act, but their role is much more about making drivers think twice before running a red light. If citizens see that there is a surveillance camera around, they will do their best to behave and not do anything wrong/suspicious. At least that's how most people would act. It is a good thing to perhaps have a surveillance camera at a traffic light just to scare people, it doens't necessarily have to work.

The Patriot Act that formed after the September 11th 2001 attacks was unconstiutional and violated our rights.This act was signed into law under President George W. Bush and reduced restrictions on law enforcement agencies ability to search telephone, e-mail, medical, financial, and other records. It also eased restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States, and broadened the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorist acts. Before the government revised this act in 2003, the government was able to go through your doctor's records, e-mail, phone calls; basically anything they wanted without probably cause.

There is a lot of concern with privacy issues when it comes to English civil libertarians. There is no control in the United Kingdom over the commercial use of public video images recorded by CCTV. Since there is so much surveillance in the UK, it is not unusual to find footage from parking garages, housing developments, department stores, and offices that may have commercial value. Cameras may record couples intertwined in office stockrooms, elevators or cars; women undressing in department store changing rooms; or husband and wives engaging in domestic squabbles. Scenes like the ones listed are sold commercially in UK video stores. I was shocked when I read this. I thought to myself, “Shouldn’t there be rights of some sort?!” Then the next thing I read was that the United Kingdom does not have a bill of rights that protects individuals from government intrusions on privacy. Individuals have limited recourse against local government agencies that provide revealing tapes to commercial producers. Since lawsuits can be filed against these producers, the producers try to protect themselves by making the image a little fuzzy to prevent a perfectly clear image of the individual. Although they make the image fuzzy, you are still able to tell what is going on and with whom in the surveillance video. The Local Government Information Unit has proposed a Spy Camera Code that would restrict access to CCTV footage. Unfortunately a code like that would not be legally binding and have a limited effect.

As you can see, some public surveillance can help the greater good, while others does not. We are lucky to live in a society where our rights aren't violated like those in the United Kingdom. Societies today are being compared to George Orwell's novel, 1984. I can see where people are getting this idea because in that novel every move they made was watched. They even had "telescreens" which was a two-way medium where you could watch television and the government could watch you. We have even adapted terms like "Big Brother" into our daily lives. In the novel Big Brother was the highest in society, and he watched over everything people did. People are convinved our society is turning into Oceania, like in 1984. I do think it's a good idea to have surveillance in some areas like I stated earlier, but they aren't necessary everywhere you go. I hope that our society won't turn into something like the United Kingdom's......