Surveillance is now an everyday part of our society. Almost everywhere someone goes, there can certainly be a possibility of them being recorded or monitored by video/digital surveillance. What started as a “new” trend in the 1990’s, in a post 911 world, is now seen as a mandatory strategy for the security of the country.
The idea of constant surveillance derives from “panoptic surveillance”, which is the notion that if the public feels they are being watched, then they will curb their natural behaviors and obey the laws. The “Opticon” reveals the sociology behind this method of security, whereby the structural design of a guard tower where the prisoners cannot see inside the tower, erodes their sense of freedom. Guards may not even be present in the tower, the theory being the prisoners will behave knowing they are being constantly monitored.
In cities such as London, the video surveillance has been an even greater threat to civil liberties because of the centralization of information being collected. This means that the police intercept all of the footage being recorded, and review it with facial recognition software to watch for suspected terrorists. The article below describes this concept from the British point of view, and talks about the laws being considered by European Parliaments, and even possibly in the United States.
The solution to losing our civil liberties in the name of security could not be just unless there is transparency. In order for their to be an effective law enforcement and security priority to stop terror plots and attacks, there needs to be a way that the public could watch law enforcement, watching them. Modern societies cannot be considered safe, until there is a much more highly evolved form of trust between the people, and their elected officials in the Government.
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