Depending on who’s counting, there are 1.85 million CCTV cameras in Britain, or 4.2 million, or 5.9 million. This means the average person is filmed somewhere between 70 and 300 times each day, depending where you are.
The uproar where I live in the United States when they wanted to put in traffic cameras to catch speeding cars, suggests that Americans wouldn’t tolerate such an ubiquity of surveillance. But in London, for instance, it is accepted by most people that you are followed wherever you go. I personally have no problem with this. It helps in the deterrance and solution of crimes. Policemen may no longer be on the beat, but hopefully they are still watching for the terrorist or the dangerous driver, hopefully both. There is no privacy on the British street, but is privacy necessary there?
Every British mystery series I watch features at least one scene in which detectives, Lewis & Hathaway for example, are huddled over footage from CCTV. “[I]t is accepted. . . that you are followed wherever you go. . .There is no privacy on the street.”
No privacy and, effectively, no anonymity. Thought-provoking–as in, I’m not sure what to think of this. I suspect yours is the more helpful view–CCTV is a rational tool for keeping order in groups of millions of people. This is what an excellent blog does–spurs reflection.