Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Are CCTV cameras invading our privacy?


In previous post I told you about what are CCTV cameras and why are they important. Today I am going to talk about the burning question, that is. "Are CCTV cameras an invasion of privacy"?
Source: Google images

Technology is not good or bad in itself; it is the use of technology that makes it good or bad. As technology is rapidly increasing, it is also increasing the concern of the people that whether technology is facilitating us, making our lives better and easy or is it making us lethargic, vulnerable to potential harms and invading our privacy. CCTV cameras are not good or bad in itself; it is their use which makes it good or bad. But generally people think that CCTV cameras are an invasion of privacy. This is a perception and perception changes from people to people because different people perceive things differently. It works both ways. There are some benefits as well as drawbacks.

One of the major benefits is that it provides home security. Like monitoring your children, being able to see who's at your door before opening it and monitoring the surroundings of your house. Not only homes, CCTV cameras also protect your businesses. Businesses take full advantage of having CCTV cameras. It makes you able to monitor acts of theft, violence or other crimes. Observing hazardous incidents and accident locations can result in dispatching emergency employees in a timely manner. Another very serious and important area where CCTV cameras are useful is the government buildings and establishments. It helps prevent internal fraud and theft. Talking about drawbacks, one of them is the discriminatory targeting of individuals and criminal abuse, as in the case of blackmailing. Security camera footage can also provide the wrong person access to potentially embarrassing images.
Source: Google images

An online organization referred to as the Professional Voice of Law Enforcement reported on the Advanced Surveillance and Protection (ASAP) program. They stated, "High-definition video surveillance cameras are being put into use increasingly throughout the United States. Mounted top buildings or light poles throughout designated public areas..."

Why CCTV cameras?

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) is a visual surveillance technology designed to monitor activities in a specific area. The area which it covers depends upon the quality of the camera's lens and its purpose. Someone said, "Today's opportunist is tomorrow's professional criminal. If we decrease the number of opportunities for easy crime, we can reduce the number of people becoming professional criminals".
Source: Google images


CCTV cameras are all around us. May be one of them is watching you right now when you are reading this article. CCTV cameras are hidden most of the time so that no one can see them and rightly so. This is because of the purpose they serve. Its purpose is to monitor activities without being noticed by someone and to do that they are most of the time hidden. The use of CCTV cameras is increasing day by day. Cameras are installed in public areas, car parks, inside Automatic Teller Machines, motorways etc. In today's time the need for CCTV cameras to be installed is more than ever felt before. This is because of increasing number of street crimes, terrorism, racial abuse, sexual abuse, in-house violence and other criminal activities. A very important in-house use of a CCTV camera would be to keep an eye on the activities of the baby sitter when you are not home. It will clearly tell you whether to keep that baby sitter or not. 


If we take the example of UK, it is claimed that there are around 4.2 million CCTV cameras but according to the research undertaken by the deputy chief constable of Cheshire, Graeme Gerrard, there are only 1.85 million CCTV cameras in the UK. Similarly, other countries are realizing the need for CCTV cameras and are adopting this technology rapidly.


Source: Google images
In my next post I will share my thoughts with you about, "are CCTV cameras invading our privacy"?