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Fifteen years ago I drove into Pasadena in California and, on approaching the city limits, was amused to see a huge sign which announced, ‘SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA!’.
It was an effective reminder not to speed, but also a sign that CCTV even then was becoming more and more common. Of course, since then we’ve learned to live with the cameras and for the most part ignore them; they’ve just become part of our way of life.
I read recently that the average UK citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day. Wow! So it came as no surprise that yesterday the august body of the House of Lords published a report that says the expansion of what they term the ‘surveillance society’ undermines our fundamental freedoms including our right to privacy.
One might argue that, unless one is doing something wrong and therefore drawing attention of these cameras to oneself, no harm is being done. That certainly is a valid view.
On the other hand, the BBC estimates that there are now over 3 million of these cameras watching our every move and that is a bit unsettling. Especially when we learn that the Shetland Islands have more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco Police Department! Or that the London Borough of Wandsworth has more of them than Dublin, Johannesburg, San Francisco and Boston combined!
Smile, we are definitely on camera and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it!
.
Fifteen years ago I drove into Pasadena in California and, on approaching the city limits, was amused to see a huge sign which announced, ‘SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA!’.
It was an effective reminder not to speed, but also a sign that CCTV even then was becoming more and more common. Of course, since then we’ve learned to live with the cameras and for the most part ignore them; they’ve just become part of our way of life.
I read recently that the average UK citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day. Wow! So it came as no surprise that yesterday the august body of the House of Lords published a report that says the expansion of what they term the ‘surveillance society’ undermines our fundamental freedoms including our right to privacy.
One might argue that, unless one is doing something wrong and therefore drawing attention of these cameras to oneself, no harm is being done. That certainly is a valid view.
On the other hand, the BBC estimates that there are now over 3 million of these cameras watching our every move and that is a bit unsettling. Especially when we learn that the Shetland Islands have more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco Police Department! Or that the London Borough of Wandsworth has more of them than Dublin, Johannesburg, San Francisco and Boston combined!
Smile, we are definitely on camera and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it!
.
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