i'll go along with the security aspects of the cameras but i think there's a real concern about who has access to information. I remember reading someplace (maybe on this site) about a cop who was using CCTV camera records to spy on his spouse.
Take the extreme. Imagine any hacker could scan speed camera, CCTV or traffic camera records and match this with all the other stuff they get on the internet. they could know who you are, where you are, etc.
Privacy, cameras and roadways
By: drivers.com staff
Date: Saturday, 02. May 2009
Contrary to popular opinion, there are laws protecting privacy in public places, says safety and security industry executive Donald Zoufal. However, Zoufal says, "as the use of technology enhanced surveillance grows across the country, more and more communities will need to address the issues of CCTV surveillance and data collection and maintenance."
The privacy issue is a hot one. At one extreme are the anti-technology zealots who maintain that the information chips in the new "Real ID" security licenses are "the mark of the beast" (see comments) and a manifestation of a biblical prophecy of doom. At the other are those who proclaim that if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear and no need to worry about privacy.
The latter view might be ignoring the power of data mining and the capability to use innocent information for nefarious purposes. Suppose, one critic surmises, a political candidate scans traffic camera records and finds an opponent driving with a passenger who could, rightly or wrongly, compromise chances of election? Or maybe a domestic relationship could be threatened.
With cameras popping up all over in public areas - from shopping malls to highway intersections - many people are getting hot under the collar about these privacy concerns. And their concerns need to be taken seriously, Zoufal maintains.
Under normal circumstances, Zoubal writes in a recent article, privacy in public places in not protected. If it's a public place and you're there, and you're seen by someone you don't want to see you, that's your problem.
However, he adds, "protection of privacy in public has been afforded in some circumstances where the individual can demonstrate a reasonable expectation of privacy in their conduct."
Technology adds a new element
The power of technology to gather information adds a powerful new dimension to the issue of privacy. Information gathered by cameras can be scanned using facial recognition technology. It can be correlated with information from such diverse sources as credit card purchases, driver license records, shopping habits, mailing lists, facebook web pages and countless others we might never even think of.
The process is called "datamining." Fans of CSI will have seen the concept on the popular TV show. Powerful computer systems can scan though vast stores of information and compile it into patterns. In real life this is done mostly for marketing reasons but the potential is there for the technology to be misused. After all, if the CSI guys can do it why can't a determined, skilled hacker.
This possibility, says Zoufal, "poses significant issues for administrators," and, he adds, they are concerned, as are lawmakers around the world. He notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has "not extended constitutional protections to compilations of public data." However, they have shown concern in some of their decisions. "Review of some of those decisions demonstrate concern over privacy implications of massive public data files," Zoufal writes.
In the European Union, under the auspices of the Data Protection Directive, publicly collected CCTV images are already the subject of regulation. Similar schemes are being advocated in the U.S.
Zoufal recommends that authorities at all levels begin to develop policies and laws to deal with the privacy issue. At the implementation level, training, control of access, and even the design of the technology itself will be key to a reasonable protection of privacy.
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All Comments (5)
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boris,
Hey CP in NJ...,
It's a country where if you Break the law, especially ones where you might kill someone (running red lights) you have to pay a steep fine. Don't like it? move to Kazakhstan, Dope.
Bill K.,
What if a dude is pooping next to your dumpster in your work parking lot and I take a photo and circulate it around my office? Is that invasion of privacy? Just curious on where you stand on that one.
Abid_Khan@Satyam.Com,
I think considering the public transportation safety aspect, the CCTV cameras are playing vital role. In the current Telematics trend, especially in the Developing countries like India, the video surveillance systems are much more effective to bring some know-how proto-types into practice. This is more important anyway when we consider any terroristic activity monitoring and alerting systems especially at highly dense metropolitan civil population zones.
CP in NJ,
I am currently visiting Arizona, where Maricopa County in particular - and the state in general - has become a police (camera) state. Because of the cameras, resentment toward the police, from people here I've talked to, is increasing dramatically and undermining respect for the police in their "real" work (NOT raising funds for the state trasury via traffic tickets). The more of those camera flashes I see go off, the more I agree with that prevailing opinion. (What country is this anyway?!?)
