Although Britain may boast a denser concentration of CCTV cameras than any other in the world, most forces "do not have systems to retrive, process and distribute CCTV crime scene images" according to a senior officer speaking to BBC news. The officer goes on to say that too much money has been spent on kit, while not enough money has been spent training operators or putting effective structures in place.
The widespread use of CCTV has been criticised a great deal by privacy advocates. How would an awareness that the technology is being used very ineffectively impact on these assessments? Should someone worried about the Big Brother state be cheered or saddened by this news?
Does it just make it even worse, because the promised benefits of intrusions are not being delivered on? Or is there any sense to the claim that, if nobody is watching the footage that CCTV is recording, then there can't be an invasion of privacy occuring? Or can surveillance be intrusive just by virtue of the possibility that someone could be watching?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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'You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that...except in darkness, every movement (was) scrutinised'. Orwell becomes ever more prescient when schoolchildren are allegedly quite happy to have CCTV in their toilets!
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