This morning on the news there was an item about CCTV cameras and people’s responses to them. Some people were wearing special contact lenses, flashing lights, spectacles, hooded tops, to avoid detection by the cameras and hide from them. I do ‘get’ what they worry about but I find the presence of these cameras reassuring and don’t feel any anxiety whatsoever that I’m being watched by an average of 70 cameras each time I go out. I really don’t feel that my civil liberties are being compromised at all. I am not breaking the law. I am not having an illicit affair. I am not speeding in my car, selling drugs, alcohol, cigarettes to little children. I have nothing to be ashamed of other than possibly having a bad-hair day or wearing socks with animal print soles. Why should I worry?
I wonder what would happen if one of these people with the anti-camera obsession was mugged? Would they still feel the same about the camera that picked up footage of the assailant, leading to an arrest? Or if a driver left the road and hit their granny? Or if their child was approached by a stranger in the street? I suspect they would have a different view of CCTV then.
Lynda's Blog 