 move, but do they keep us safe?)
SECURITY CAMERAS seemingly record our every (public) move, but do they keep us safe?
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View the Surveillance Slide Show
When traveling to London, be sure to smile: the city is home to at least half of a million surveillance cameras—if you count video systems at banks, supermarkets and other commercial locations, according to The New York Times. And motorists with obnoxious vanity license plates, take heed: New York City has plans to install cameras that will snap a photo of every plate that enters the borough of Manhattan.
The range of human vocalization, from a full-throated bellow to a hushed whisper, typically lets you decide who will hear your voice. But what happens when that choice is taken away by technology that can pick up and transmit even the softest sounds? Add security cameras at gas stations, convenience marts, subway stops and street corners, and privacy appears to be little more than a quaint notion.
Some efforts to prevent the next terrorist attack have come at a cost to our privacy, whether through the government's expansion of its wiretapping and surveillance powers or an omnipresent network of cameras that scan our every move in the public square as we go about our daily lives.
Is this the cost of greater, and some would argue, necessary security? Or have governments and concerned parties crossed the line into prying and paranoia? Check out ScientificAmerican.com's in-depth report on privacy and security to learn more about these issues.
Here, see images of both conspicuous as well as not-so-noticeable surveillance devices, from the gas station closed-circuit camera to the telephone wiretapping equipment that has recently been the subject of political fights.
View the Surveillance Slide Show
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11 Comments
Add CommentMost privacy worries are overblown.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts not like each and every one of these cameras has a person sitting there watching. Time after time when a crime is committed the video from nearby cameras is unavailable or of too poor quality to be useful.
It use to be once you step out of your house and leave your property, you don't have a right of privacy. Now they can monitor your phone calls, your use of the internet, record what you watch on cable TV ... however, they just can't seem to catch my neighbor next door selling drugs, driving unregistered (possibly stolen) vechiles, cheating the state disability & welfare system, and none of their kids have attended school for the last six years. And yes, all the neighbors have called all the "government officials" numerous times to no avail.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, "Am I afraid of all this monitoring?" ... I'd have to say "No, not yet," since the government is incapable of taking care of the simple crimes.
Yes, that's true, very often spy cameras produce unusable pictures.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo what is the point in having them?
Answer?:
1) To pretend we are doing something constructive to stop crime, but merely creating a new market for goods and services that some smart guys can milk for profits.
2) So people get used to the surveillance society, as it slowly incrementally ramps up to full blown totalitarianism, without protest.
3) To help condition us to a position of bovine passivity, necessary for controlling huge populations when resources dwindle.
We can all add many more apocalyptic guesses to this list... just pick whichever answer you like. One thing for sure is the surveillance society doesn't increase personal responsibility or democratic accountability, they are crushed by it.
you must remember that all this monitoring is not to there to reduce crime, the purpose is to condition us to accept authority without question. Its a psychological technique well known and recognisable to anyone familiar with psychology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA clear example is turning off cell phones before entering aircraft. The cell phone can't do any damage but by getting everyone to agree they are preconditioned to accept authority - quite useful - who wants a bunch of unruly independendents trying to escape an aircraft in an emergency, better they agree now to accept the authority of the aircrew. Then , if there's an accident they wil be more inclined to follow advise and more people may survive. The fear of an accident ensures we comply.
This is so successful that it is being applied to every aspect of our lives. The result will be control for its own sake, i.e. power for the sake of power.
I have to say after being in the Army and working at DHS. All this decision of surveillance is really just "customer service" to frightened citizens. There is so much information out there for CT ops, it takes real smart investigators to know where to look.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur few people, elected or otherwise, can have all the ambition they want. It's their folly. The day their ambition has a noticable impact on my life, I will simply remove myself from their equation, and leave this country for greener pastures. It worked for our ancestors. If America finds itself hijacked by the same types of people they faced, and goes down the same path the european countries did a few hundred years ago, well, I'm off to follow in their footsteps.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExactly, like what happened to this planet nowadays? I mean its not like I don't like it or feel unprotected its just that you might have some personal things to say to someone. Some what like a doctors appointment for some embarrassing thing. Or maybe in the bathroom too. I heard somewhere in california that they had mini cameras inserted next to the self flush moniter!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, Hotblack, you are right, but where would you go? Not many places left these days.... maybe Mars! Anyway the whole planet is converging on a sort of benign totalitarianism, by that I mean totalitarianism "for our own good" haha. So we either change it or put up with it. I'm for changing it but who would vote for me? almost nobody.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am at least, glad that the "spy-cams" don't accost the litterer to tell him to pick it up, as in Britain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut it seems to me there is creeping infringement of the third and fourth amendment; they might not quarter soldiers in our homes, but the monitoring is there. And what about "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,shall not be violated...."
Who is to decide what's "reasonable?' As far as I'm concerned, computers and their use is the modern equivlent of "papers."
Pay phones have been tapped -- often ostentatiously, as in illustration above -- since the 1970s, as pay phones were a tool in the drug trade.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWherein is one free when the government has, or can have, every aspect of one's daily life under surveillance? Under the pretext of "security" one's privacy can be invaded by them at will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUsing our tax dollars, the CIA has developed GPS units much more accurate than the ones we are allowed to buy. Taxpayers paid for this research and development but are not permitted to use it. Some of us are equal, but some are more equal than others.
One's cell phone can be used to listen in on one's conversation unless the battery is removed.
A satellite which cannot be seen with the naked eye can enable someone to "see" through your roof to read the papers on your desk. These things have been done under the guise of "national security." I would rather be "free" than "secure."
Our 911 system enables emergency personnel to reach your exact location speedily. Can you think of other potential uses of this technology not quite so benign?
Our government has developed robots that can be deployed to assassinate "enemies." These robots are virtually indestructible and cannot be defeated by the "enemy." All is well so long as we trust the government. We do trust the government don't we?
Could there ever be another "revolution" in this country when the government can track our every move and is moving to track our every thought if it wishes. Whatever happened to the Bill of Rights? What is happening to our Constitution? Why do we accept this?
Citizens have a right to question what the government does. It's part of our heritage. Don't lose it.