April 29, 2007
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Big Brother
I mentioned in my photoblog this morning that the UK has had an increase in the number of surveillance cameras.
The surveillance cameras are used to “combat crime and anti-social behavior.” Civil rights groups are complaining that there is currently 1 surveillance camera for ever 14 people. One watchdog group claims that Britain is in danger of “committing slow social suicide.” Here is the link: Link
We are seeing more cameras popping up around our country as I have noted before. We also have cameras checking for those who are speeding. There are cameras that check for people who don’t pay their tolls on toll roads.
There are people concerned about the government tracking internet visits.
Should we be concerned about cameras or are these just normal advances in technology?
Comments (73)
As long as teh cameras aren’t used for invasion of privacy, I”m cool with it.
Yes, we should be concerned
i’m concerned
I’m concerned. It freaks me out.
I’m very concerned.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. A government should be afraid of its people.”
yes!
It is big brother and we should be gravely concerned…
Very concerned. The English are crazy.
Hey! Everyones a film star at least!
As long as they are catching people breaking the law it is fine with me. Nobody gripes about bank cameras catching criminals.
Don’t break the law and you have nothing to be concerned about.
I’m not concerned… They dont install cameras in our homes or backyards…. once we step out onto the streets we dont have privacy anyways, anyone can see is… anyone walking by, driving by… whatever.
Very concerned.
It is reminiscent of 1984, but I’m not really concerned. We don’t have a right to privacy…and as long as they’re not filming what goes on in my private property, I have no issue with it.
I just don’t bother anymore.
Look at us, all concerned about privacy… we video tape animals having sex and it’s broadcasted on the discovery chanell… now thats a loss of privacy!
Tee hee.
As with any new technology, there is always room for abuse; but the problem is not the technology. It is the management of its use – when? where? how much? for what reason?
It is a bit disconcerting…
We should be VERY concerned!
CONCERNED, definitely.
Concerned. Oh so concerned.
As long as they are catching people breaking the law it is fine with me. Nobody gripes about bank cameras catching criminals.
Don’t break the law and you have nothing to be concerned about.
Posted 4/29/2007 1:12 PM by funny_guydude
And when they start changing the law? When they decide one day to start making basic human liberties of speech and press and thought illegal, and it’s too late to stop them because any resistance will be caught by the people with the cameras?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who guards the guards?
Any good democratically-based government should contain the possibility of its own overthrow, should tyrants come to power.
What’s wrong with cameras? Seriously. “Oh no, invasion of privacy!” What are they going to do, sell your life story to Fox news? Are you afraid that whoever is operating the camera is going to check you out? That would mean they needed a camera to do that. I don’t believe that
What is so private that you can’t let a total stranger see it? Add that to the fact that these cameras are only in public places. So, WHAT are you doing in public places that you don’t want anyone to find out? And what’s wrong with them checking what websites you go to? “Hah, look at the porn this complete stranger goes to”?
Not concerned at all. I don’t know why I should be.
highly concerned the gov’t works for us, remember?
They are going to do it, if we like it or not. A lot of my basic rights are taken away from me as I go thru the doors of my high school why don’t people talk about that?
we should most certainly be concerned!
What is so private that you can’t let a total stranger see it? Add that to the fact that these cameras are only in public places. So, WHAT are you doing in public places that you don’t want anyone to find out? And what’s wrong with them checking what websites you go to? “Hah, look at the porn this complete stranger goes to”?
Not concerned at all. I don’t know why I should be.
Posted 4/29/2007 1:35 PM by ryoma136
Then read 1984, where there’s a camera in every room and the government oversees everything.
Consider this: if the British had a camera system like this in their colonies in the 18th century, America would never have been able to gain independence.
What is so private that you can’t let a total stranger see it? Add that to the fact that these cameras are only in public places. So, WHAT are you doing in public places that you don’t want anyone to find out? And what’s wrong with them checking what websites you go to? “Hah, look at the porn this complete stranger goes to”?
Not concerned at all. I don’t know why I should be.
Posted 4/29/2007 1:35 PM by ryoma136
Then read 1984, where there’s a camera in every room and the government oversees everything.
Consider this: if the British had a camera system like this in their colonies in the 18th century, America would never have been able to gain independence.
This is so ironic i was just getting ready to write a paper on the film Enemy of the State….anyone seen it? You should watch it if you havent. A guy is in the wrong place at the right time and his whole laife gets screwed up because of the government….
I’m not concerned about them. I would personally rather not know if they were there or not. It would be more awkward for me if I knew I was being watched.
Then read 1984, where there’s a camera in every room and the government oversees everything.
Consider this: if the British had a camera system like this in their colonies in the 18th century, America would never have been able to gain independence.
Posted 4/29/2007 1:46 PM by ChrisRusso
We will never become a totalitarian government. The only way that could happen is if one person controlled the Federal government AND most of the states. While secession by states may be illegal, that is useless as a state would do it if it wanted to.
We will never become a totalitarian government. The only way that could happen is if one person controlled the Federal government AND most of the states. While secession by states may be illegal, that is useless as a state would do it if it wanted to.
Posted 4/29/2007 1:52 PM by ryoma136
Never say never.
There are more varieties of totalitarian rule than rule by one leader. Oligarchy, for example. People already complain that almost all politicians seem alike in their corruption and self-absorption: that’s a step in an oligarchical direction. Always remember that it was the Senate that killed Julius Caesar and turned a republic into an empire.
Furthermore, this is taking place in England, not America. And while I’m sure their parliamental monarchy has its own system of checks and balances, no such system is infallible.
1984, teehee.
I’m extremely worried. Read 1984.
I think we should be concerned, Their technology can be so advanced its looking at every thing we do on the internet and they wont tell us about it.
Next: Big Brother cameras in your homes. He is already watching you at your job. In most corporations, every phone call you make, every email, how much time you spend in Excel or Word, when you log in and log out and everything else you do on the PC provided to you is recorded and watched.
ignorance is bliss
Part of me says that if it’s handled correctly and used only to ID criminals, it’s fine. But then the other half knows that sooner or later it will get abused, that it’ll get used to force people to conform to an incredibly narrow social standard. Next thing you know, we’re forced to install cameras in private residences, to keep watch for crimes taking place in the home. Soon, everything is a crime. I’d rather like to avoid that.
I stand with Orwell, Bradbury and the like–I am concerned…deeply concerned.
Has a freakish resemblence to 1984. Might as well just call them telescreens.
I think it’s getting a little creepy.
Read Harry Potter. It explains it all.
I live in Baltimore, Md in an area so much under servelliance, I forget the cameras are there:).As long as they don’t come into my room I’m fine with them monotoring me
Heck.. I’m somewhat concerned..
Well, Britain IS where 1984 is set… maybe George Orwell was right, just a few years too soon…
I’m more concerned with how much tax money is going into monitoring all these cameras.
Even though I would never do anything illegal, I would feel violated and uncomfortable around them. I don’t even want to say as long as they are only surveying public places then it is OK because I think that opens doors for them to push the envelope to become more and more invasive into people’s lives.
I think it’s just normal, doesn’t really concern me. They do it to catch people who aren’t obeying the law (it’s only when I speed that it worries me!).
You know what? There are bigger things to spend your time worrying about, people. Like hunger, pain, suffering, lonliness, …. how about “worrying” about how you can help people? Sounds like a better use of time to me. Just my opinion.
If they help catch criminals and illegal immigrants I don’t mind.
Notice that Big Brother was the name of the Party leader in 1984…
Because, King Drew, Like it or not, as long as you are under 18 and still under your parents authority? You don’t have rights. You’re not an adult yet. Your parents take that place until you are legally allowed to, and as such they have agree to the restrictions your school has put in place. That’s the diff. If they didn’t, they’d place you in a different setting. sorry, but you don’t have the right to your “rights” . . . just yet.
It’s concerning that the government, which we should trust in, could use this survalience in a negative way. But honestly, I can’t think of a single thing they they could use it for other than keeping an eye on crimminal activity. Am I all for big brother tapping my phone line and what not? No. But the cameras in public areas would probably increase the number of crimminals brought to justice. If you don’t want someone watching you out in public, do go out in public because I can guarentee you once you step outside, someone will at least glance at you on the street. Really, if you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of being caught on video in PUBLIC? We have cameras in stores for what reason? To catch shoplifters. You don’t see anyone complaining about that.
It’s Big Brother run amok. How much longer til we have cameras in our houses?
I’m of a mixed nature on this topic. I think that cameras to stop people who run red lights are good. Cameras to stop theft good. I’m not sure how far this technology should be taken though. I worry that given time it won’t be about personal safety but will become more about someone else’s views of safety and therefore infringe upon personal privacy. Yet, we live in the world of the reality tv series, where there are just enough asking to be filmed that in a few years, I don’t think there will be something called personal privacy.
I never actually answered the question.
No, I am not concerned. Yet.
Everything the cameras are catching are out in the open. Now if there were to be cameras required to be in homes, town houses, apartment buildings, and other such private buildings then, Yes, I’d be worried indeed.
An increase in the number of surveillance cameras overlooking our towns and cities do not mean that we are anywhere near approaching a 1984 type of lifestyle. People need to stop freaking out.
However, the Internet was brought up (for some reason I’m still trying to figure out since the rest of the post pertained to survailence cameras). Bringing the Internet into the picture changes the dynamics of the argument; in fact, it completely changes the picture entirely. Like VictimOfScum said, there are programs out there that track phone calls, emails, what applications you’re accessing and for what length of time… screen shots can be taken at short or long intervals, every keystroke can be monitored… When you bring Internet / computer survalience into the picture, it, well, changes everything.
If the government was monitoring all of these things very seriously, on top of an increase in surveillance by camera, Yes, I would be worried.
Oh man, I only caught about half of my spelling errors of the word surveillance. Boo.
In fact, we already have Big Brother in our schools. The school knows everything we type, google, or go to on computers.
In Libraries too.
Besides bathrooms, in my school, I have yet to find a spot that isn’t under surveillance.
i like my privacy, but i do understand.
Who exactly would want to watch a tape of people walking on a street? Do you think anyone’s going to care? All people will do is review the tapes if a situation occurs. No human’s going to sit there and monitor every minute of your life.
Yes we should be concerned.
This makes me angry.
1984, Gattaca, Fahrenheit 451, V for Vendetta, blah blah blah.
Books and movies are entertaining, but some people put too much faith into them. It is fiction people, false, fake, made up. Not real.
Besides, if people were really that worried about privacy, why would they post so many “private” things on the internet for everyone to see?
As long as the government don’t go over broad with the cameras then I’m fine. But, most likely they are going to step over the line and things are going to get messy.
England is in danger, here we aren’t yet
as long as it isn’t in a bathroom stall i’m cool with it
My concern is, who exactly gets to define “anti-social behavior”?
Not too long ago under the Soviet Union, believing in religious freedom was considered anti-social.
You forgot cameras at the local fast food restaurants and in the Walmart parking lot. I’m not alarmed by these in particular, because I think it’s now part of a thorough security system, if you own a business.
That’s only partially concerning, when compared to the fact that billions of people still don’t know Jesus.
considering the possibilities of technology both today and in the future, we should be very concerned. technology is very easy to manipulate and take advantage of. it is not only a privacy issue, but a safety issue as well if a hacker
was ever able to hack into such systems (not just cameras, but GPS and tracking devices too). using tech in this way can only lead to a Orwellian society much like that in 1984.
Concerned.
1984! i read that book in eng last yera :]
haha big brother’s watching you ! :X.
It seems like a good way to discourage crime. These cameras are out in the open, not in anyone’s private quarters.
> As long as they keep it in context as a crime/situation solver, o.k. …. We’ve got the traffic tower cams at various locations around the city you can access online, good for looking at traffic snarls at the interchanges…. Traffic cams, atm cams ‘n such are good for silent witness work, if used by law enforcement…. ‘N how about those phone cams in all those new cell phones? Technical progress, yes…. socially responsible use of same? ..?!!
Peace