What happens when the surveillance is done by the citizens?

[Bill Mattocks]

The UK is one of the most high-surveillance places on earth, I'm told. They believe in the power of putting cameras on street corners and police officers watching those cameras. Many crimes have been stopped or at least recorded for future prosecutions in this manner. The USA has nowhere near that many cameras on a per-capita basis.

Now we see citizens, pensioners actually, doing the same; a sort of 'Neighborhood Watch' but with still and video cameras. And the interesting thing - the police and neighbors describe how it makes them uncomfortable.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ing-high-tech-war-yobs.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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On patrol with the the OAP vigilantes: The pensioners who are waging a high-tech war on yobs

The telescope in Albert Beher's high-rise flat is so powerful that, on cloudless summer nights such as these, it offers a remarkably clear view of the moon's cratered surface.
However, this gentleman prefers to use it for a more practical - and some would say questionable - purpose.

By rigging it up to a camcorder and a computer screen and training the high-powered lens down on the streets, he can capture in extraordinary detail the activity in every nook and cranny of his Leicester neighbourhood.
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Frankly, I'm a lot more concerned about police surveillance than I am that done by private citizens. If it's aimed at the street, then it violates neither laws nor ethics as far as I'm concerned. Admittedly, my experience is with the USA; here there is no legal expectation of privacy in a public place. If you pick your nose in public and someone takes a photo of it, well, that's your tough luck. And my concern with police surveillance is not that they stop or record crime, it's merely that I fret that often lines are crossed and what starts as legal surveillance of public areas goes beyond that. With private citizens, I'm not as worried - if they record where they are not allowed to by law, then they're committing a crime. But who arrests police when they cross lines like that? Anyway, I say hooray for the oldsters doing this. Can't understand why anyone would have a problem with it.

 

[Deaf Smith]

By rigging it up to a camcorder and a computer screen and training the high-powered lens down on the streets, he can capture in extraordinary detail the activity in every nook and cranny of his Leicester neighbourhood

When it's done by cops, it's "law enforcement".

When it's done by the local joe, it's YOU ARE A PEEPING TOM!

If the cops record your image and voice while stopping you for speeding, it's "law enforcement"

When it's done by the local joe, it's ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING!

If cops film bystanders with a camera, it's "law enforcement".

When it's done by the local joe, it's INTEFEARING WITH POLICE!

It would be funny if it was not true.

Deaf

 

[Tez3]

CCTV monitoring here isn't done by the police. They aren't in actual fact anything to do with the police, the local councils put them in and they are usually run by private companies. The operators need to be trained, screened and have their SIA licences. Of course they are very useful for the police but are basically for the safety of the tax payers who do regularly ask to have them installed. Ther is rarely much complaint about them being up, people feel it makes it safer for them to go out on the streets. The current government however has said they will rein back CCTV as well as the speed cameras and wheel clampers...now they really are a menace to society!
We may be the place with the most CCTV cameras because private citizens do set up their own, usually by their front and back doors, gardens and garages. Not usaully linked to a telescope though, thats a bit weird!

 

[Empty Hands]

Obviously a pensioner doesn't have the power of the state behind him to turn the country into a Surveillance State. From that perspective, it's not as worrisome.

People that spend all their time watching their neighbors are still creepy though.

 

[Carol]

Obviously a pensioner doesn't have the power of the state behind him to turn the country into a Surveillance State. From that perspective, it's not as worrisome.

People that spend all their time watching their neighbors are still creepy though.

I agree...especially with a high-powered telescope. I'm all for neighborhood watches, and even here in the U.S. some folks go as far as organizing walks and patrols with videocams...but the constant watch by my neighbors would drive me batty.

 

[Blade96]

When it's done by cops, it's "law enforcement".

When it's done by the local joe, it's YOU ARE A PEEPING TOM!

If the cops record your image and voice while stopping you for speeding, it's "law enforcement"

When it's done by the local joe, it's ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING!

If cops film bystanders with a camera, it's "law enforcement".

When it's done by the local joe, it's INTEFEARING WITH POLICE!

It would be funny if it was not true.

Deaf

Geeesh. While I take your point, I also know that sometimes the Cop Shop needs to be able to do things the ordinary schmuck can't do.

If they didnt they'd never catch all the bad guys.

 

[girlbug2]

Read a book called Earth by David Brin. He predicted this very thing way back in the early '90s.