New at Reason

Greg Beato looks at the nexus of the surveillance state and reality TV.

Comments

gonzo | January 30, 2007, 1:39pm | #

I think that it is a great idea to have video camers to prevent crime. First we should put cameras in all public employees offices, meeting rooms, cars etc. Especially elected officials and the police. After all they are public employees. If they don't do anything wrong they have nothing to worry about. Citizen committees picked at random off of the street will oversee/monitor and make judgements of suspicius activity recorded on the system. This would be a good way to test large scale video monitoring. If it works here then we can expand the system to the general public. Also this would help with the new zero tolerance policy for corrupt/incompentent public employees.

The Ministry of Suspicious Walks | January 30, 2007, 2:39pm | #

I like the idea of surveillance cameras monitoring suspicious walking.

Out of a Monty Python skit, that is.

Larry A | January 30, 2007, 4:43pm | #

Surveillance cameras certainly lead to more surveillance cameras, but do they lead to less crime? In England there are now approximately 5 million public and private surveillance cameras, a fact that has turned every resident of the country’s capital into surrogate Madonnas and Prince Henrys. “The average Londoner going about his or her business may be monitored by 300 [surveillance] cameras a day,” Brendan O’Neill reports in an October issue of the New Statesman.

"UK crime rate rise detailed, prison population surge predicted in leaked report"

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/12/uk-crime-rate-rise-detailed-prison.php

Russ 2000 | January 31, 2007, 11:37am | #

Can anyone honestly say that instant replay has increased efficiency in the NFL? Fuck no, the games now take longer and become more boring yet the refereees on the field and in the booth still fuck up at the same rate. Expect the same results in the state panopticon.

Paranoia is expensive.