Few technologies make people as uneasy as surveillance cameras installed by governments and private companies, which come increasingly close to capturing everything that goes on in public. Even though like Neil M. Richards said its “something that abuses our civil liberties and would be something like having police officers with perfect memory on every street corner”. But the analysis can’t be as simple as “surveillance bad, privacy good”; and at least in some situations, camera systems can promote both security and liberty.
I wish everyone would think this through more carefully. No police state can prevent every last attack its just not possible. But it can ruin a society while no one but the cameras are watching. And just with the Boston Marathon Bombing Attack, in my opinion it would have taken more to find out who were the ones that placed the bomb. Boston is one of the less wired cities when it comes to cameras surveillance, but still authorities relied a lot from footage from Lord & Taylor department store near the scene. Just not this week at my job somebody tried to steal something from use, but we caught it in camera and were able to get the person that was doing it. The other way I see it is that even though just like Richards say “cameras are expensive. They are costly to install and maintain, and in a time of limited budgets, they could be mistaken for an adequate substitute for human police officers on the street.” This can also bring out jobs for unemployed people. And don't agree that it will be a substitute for human police, it would just be something that helps the law to solve crimes.
We live in an age where where Internet usage and data content is available for anyone to see via our IP addresses coming from our computers, our personal information on social media sites are all out there for anyone to see. The point I'm trying to make is that there are FAR more privacy concerns in the 21st century information age than a few extra cameras on the street and we are already on private video all the time without our knowledge as we saw in Boston.
Am not saying that is justifiable to violate certain of our civil liberties. All am trying to say is that when it comes to national security, where we are able to find criminals or detect threats that can eventually bring harm to the people in a more faster way. And as long as they are not in my house,if so yes them that would be violating my privacy.
2 comments:
I agree that there are far worse matters than security cameras in public places! Even though Neil M. Richards does not agree, I think security cameras in public is a great precautionary method that would benefit us more than harm us. It's for the greater good! If it's in public, I see no reason as to why not. People should know how to behave themselves in public and if putting these cameras around could promote them to be doing the right thing, then I am all for it! Maybe these precautions will make those who plan to do "bad" think twice. So far, I am OK with security cameras but when the government tries to infringe on our privacy at home, that's where I put my foot down. There should be a balance in which we would allow certain security methods while being able to rightfully reject other methods (like regulating the internet). That's right government, my home, my privacy, my internet. Please steer clear! In light of this, I am glad that Quantum internet is right around the corner.
So what is the Quantum internet, you ask? By definition, this is an internet connection that is completely secure and can not be tampered, decrypted, or intercepted. Impossible? Not so much. The Los Alamos National Labs has been using this system for about 2 years now! This system could be used to counteract internet monitoring by government under CISPA or the Utah Data Center. I just hope that one of these days, this breakthrough can become a useable product. If it ever does, then it's taxpayer dollars well spent. Basically, this kind of "more technology" could be the key to fight the nosy government when the balance is off.
One of my colleges wrote a thoughtful commentary on the issue being raised about increasing the number of surveillance cameras in operation. This post seems to echo the sentiment of many Americans who are concerned about their safety and wish to prevent future senseless attacks. However, I think that the hyper focus such tragedies create distract our thoughts from more meaningful solutions.
Whether or not we should install more security cameras should not be the discussion. We can not only focus on building a bigger and better wall of protection. We will never be totally safe from the deranged thoughts of the human mind. But by turning inward instead of outward, maybe our society can come up with solutions that get to the root of the problem. Working to make our society more inclusive; providing real opportunities for education and meaningful work; giving our mental health professionals the resources they need to help those who are suffering...these are just a few of the many directions the collective conversation could be going in. There is so much that we can be doing in a society to build up individuals into well adjusted, productive members of society. That is where real safely lies.
Fear is a powerful emotion. But when it rules a country, the inhabitants do not thrive. Growth and advancement is achieved only through seeing past fear to hope and using that hope to fuel action.
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