JUST BECAUSE WE CAN DOES IT MEAN WE SHOULD?

With around five million CCTV cameras, the UK has one of the highest levels of monitoring per head of any country.

Primarily used to detect and deter crime in public spaces such as high streets and car parks they are also installed to monitor bus lane and parking infringements.

Many other countries have adopted cctv surveillance for their cities including some in Australia, and this week, news that in Auckland
a cross-city network of cameras were being planned ahead of a potential national surveillance system which could include facial recognition technology.

The NZ Herald reports that:

"The network will include thousands of cameras which will be available for police to use under a formal agreement with the council."

NZ Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Batch Hales said those introducing such a system needed to explain why it was needed.

"The other issue is the philosophy behind it - that everyone is effectively a suspect so we need to check on everyone to make sure they are not."

"A 2012 survey found 93 per cent of Kiwis believed it was acceptable for police to use facial recognition technology to help identify people from security camera footage." (full article below)

Do you agree?

Do cctv cameras make you feel more safe or more at risk?

Read more here:
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11257325
www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/02/cctv-cameras-watching-surveillance
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/privacy/cctv-and-anpr