According to statistics the average Londoner is watched by at least 300 CCTV cameras a day. Britain has 4.2 million CCTV cameras which is 20 percent of the cameras globally. Both of these numbers are frightening.
The really scary part is how easily you get used to it walking around London. No matter where you go, you can look up to find at least one camera pointed at you. They even have mobile units driving around the city. That blew my mind when I first saw them. Sadly that's the direction Britain wants to go with its society. The States are not far behind either, but a mass proliferation of CCTV has yet to be a nationwide thing.
I understand the reasons for having these systems in place especially in this day and age, but as with any government related initiative there's huge potential for abuse and excess. Using the fear against the citizenry allows them to overextend their reach eroding our expectations of privacy. These cameras will never go away, I'm not as naive to believe that. We do need to closely watch why and where they are being deployed. Pushing back when security is no longer the objective.
Reading that article reminds me of some posters I saw underneath an overpass while walking to the BBC.
1984 is here, slipping in quietly while no one was looking.
-------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment