What happens on camera during the Big Brother show might bore most of us but if any of us were being video taped that would be a different story. The thing is, no matter where you live, some of us are already being captured on tape. Police call it surveillance but it all comes down to the same thing - our privacy is being invaded.
Surveillance cameras are everywhere - at traffic lights, in schools, in banks, at ATMs, sidewalks and even at Super Bowl XXXV. At the Super Bowl police use their surveillance equipment to scan fans faces as they pass through the entrance. Then that image is put into a database to see if the fan is a wanted criminal. Some people think having camera surveillance is great for monitoring criminal activity and behavior but others, like myself, think it's an invasion of privacy.
Most states aren't putting cameras in places like washrooms and locker rooms because of the right to privacy but they're putting them everywhere else. In some cities like New York, Providence and Baltimore, entire sections of town are being taped. With today's technology, not every camera can be seen so people don't even know they're being watched.
Cameras aren't just used in the states. Major cities all over Canada already have some cameras set up or police are fighting to have them set up. In Britain people can already expect to be caught on tape by up to 300 cameras a day. Wow. Having all these cameras can help police out in some cases but if criminals know where the cameras are, they block the lens or simply move. When a video camera went up outside Cathy Barren's clothing store in Cincinnati she was happy that drug users had stopped hanging out in front of her store. That's great for Cathy but the drug users haven't vanished - they're just annoying a different storeowner.
What about the privacy of people who live on the street? None of us would like it if someone came into our house with a video camera and started recording everything. For some people, the street is their home. Shouldn't they have the same rights that we have? It might not be illegal to have camera surveillance in public places but there will always be an issue of privacy. For some of us, our neighborhood has become Big Brother.
What do you think? Is our privacy being invaded or is all the camera surfeillance needed?
