My newspaper says that the average American is videotaped 30 times a day - taking money out of an automated teller, entering a grocery store, driving through intersections, etc. That seems way too high to me. Are there any reliable statistics on this?
And that, kiddies, is why I never go out without my lipstick on!
Well you’re for sure being taped every time you go into a major store, as well as getting cash at either the bank or ATM. In large cities the public transit has video cameras on the buses/trains. Some places have cameras in the parking lots (Wal-Mart, movie theaters, some transit points). Larger restaurant/bars probably have quite a bit of security (think Dave & Busters type places.) DEFINITELY in a casino. If you get pulled over by the cops they’ll be filming you for one of those “Dorkiest Criminals” shows. I’m not sure of the extent of taping in elevators or restrooms, but yeah – I could buy 30 times a day easily, provided you go to 30 different areas. Eve’s right, you should always be ready for your close-up! (And wait until you get home to scratch “that itch.”)
As for the intersection lights, I was under the impression they were still cameras that take several shots as the light turns red, but I could easily be wrong about that.
The statement “the average American is videotaped 30 times a day”, is what we technically call in the media bizz, dribble.
No one ever counted the filmings, explained what an ‘average American’ was, or considered there are few who visit the drive-thru, stop at the C-store or get pulled over by police a total of 30 times a day.
Exactly, thats assumming each one of us …
Rides a bus to the subway, to the grocery store, stops at an ATM before we go shopping, take a subway to a bus back home, get pulled over later that night while on our way to a club, and stop at an ATM 10 times before we get to the club…
EVERY DAY.
Hell, I know I’m not videotaped 30 times a day. Neither is Mr. Athena. We both work at home, and at least 50% of the time we don’t leave the house.
Yet another reason to spend less than 48 minutes a day masturbating.
I don’t know. I get videotaped (daily):
Four times when driving my car into and out of the company garage. (In, Lunch, Lunch Return, Home).
Note: Strangely enough, the crack video surveilance system didn’t manage to pick up the asshole who stole my car CD player.
Eight more times by the two video cameras in the stairwell (up twice and down twice).
At least four more times by those two cameras, just using the stairs to go from floor to floor.
That’s easily 16 times, that I know of.
If I walk up to the ATM, I get pinged by at least two ATM cameras.
If I go to the grocery store, I get taped coming in and going out.
If I go to the gym (big if), I get taped coming and going.
If I go to any shopping mall at all, I’m probably rarely, if ever, off camera.
So, though I’m sure somebody just pulled the number 30 out of their ass, it’s not an inconceivable figure. It’s probably somewhere in that neighborhood.
And, of course, if I go to Disneyland, I get videotaped ten or twenty times on every ride and once every 30 feet or so outside.
Didn’t you ever see Truman show? :eek:
This is also called viewpoint bias. Most cities in the US do not have cameras at intersections. Most cities do not have subways. Most factories and offices do not have cameras installed (yet). Not everyone uses ATMs.
I’ll bet that the larger the city you live in, the more times on average that your picture gets taken. And I’ll bet that nightkey’s newspaper was a very big city one. But as for the rest of us, that figure of 30 is still somewhere in the future.
We also have to remember that this statistic is implicitly ON AVERAGE (I’m taking, just for the sake of argument, that the stat is not “dribble” as mentioned above - I realize it is, I just want to make a point 
). I figure, based on my driving/shopping/ATM habits that I get videotaped 5 or 6 times a day. However, my best friend is a milk delivery guy and makes about 50-60 stops a day at grocery stores/convenience stores/etc. Figure he’s taped a minimum of once entering and once leaving, that means about 100-120 tapings a day. Add in his non-work tapings, and it could go to as high as 130 tapings a day. Now include both our wives’ tapings (approx 5-6 also). That means, between the four of us, we have about 145 tapings per day. That averages to about 36 tapings per day each - so I could conceive that such a number bandied about wouldn’t be that far off.
critter42
Am I the only one that has spine shivers thinking on the myriad of ways this will be abused in the not so distant future?
England has an extensive network of video camera that are run by the government whenever this comes up on slashdot there is a debate on the subject. A surprising number of people post in favor of the system. Especially surprising because people on slashdot get pretty bent out of shape about almost any type of surveillance.
The English system is much more prone to abuse than ATMs, video in convenience stores and the parking lot at work. It is already a system where it is easy for those in charge to get quick access to any camera they want. But from what I gather the English seem to like the system so I would think that you are in the minority about getting the shivers thinking about this.
I wouldn’t complain too much about this or you’ll soon be at the top of the list of “trouble makers” maintained my our new Homeland Security agency. 
Why would you care, if you don’t have anything to hide?
Exactly.
There’s practical restraints as well over concern about governmental video taping. They already have the ability and do so for “suspects”. Of course there is and always will be an occassional case of abuse, but that’s rare.
I won’t do the math, but to daily video tape a large portion of the population and actually do something with it is beyond any evidence of past government efficiency.
Imagine how difficult it would be to identify, catalog and react to hundreds of millions(or billions!) of daily views.
Consider -
What would your reaction be if every one of those possible video cameras were a uniformed security person? Like a cop at the intersection, a guard at the entrance to the store or bank.
Would you feel violated or would you feel safer? If you feel differently about a camera than you do about a uniformed security person, why is that?
Because security cameras don’t have guns. At leat not yet!
I feel differently about the camera because they can be linked in a system to monitor large numbers of people in a way that a bunch of uniformed security people cannot be. You can use a system of security camera to track the movements of a large number of different people with much less effort than can be done with security people. A security person cannot be reasonably expected to keep an eye out for more than say 10 or 20 different people. To track someone via security officers means that at all the security guards have to be given pictures of the person.