12 October, 2009

Why watch Big Brother when you can be him?

One tiny compensation from the overwhelming CCTV coverage of urban Britain is that it's not necessarily surveillance – there are far more cameras than operators and a minority of the footage is ever likely to be seen before being overwritten.

A 'solution' is to make the footage available to interested members of the public – i.e. self-appointed moral guardians and underemployed busybodies – allowing the unqualified to act as unpaid security guards reporting anything suspicious at their own expense: the intention is to turn curtain-twitching into a game, with prizes.

I'm certainly not going to publicise the organising company with a link but, to their credit, they stress that they're working with private-sector cameras, with no intention to expand into the public sector (street surveillance via council/police apparatus).
Do I believe them? Probably, but that's a key point: how do I know that I'm not being watched, and never will be watched, by unaccountable amateurs?

[Update 28/01/10: The 'service' is yet to be launched since, at the time of writing, the Information Commissioner's Office is investigating its legality.]