There is a massive increase in cameras on the streets in
watching anything they please since there are no real rules regarding these cameras watching people , do you think this is an infringement of your privacy and a breech of your rights?
Also on the roads there is going to be a three fold increase
in speed cameras , this fair or not? since everybody thinks
they are just to raise funds for the government while the government keeps saying they are for your safty now bug off
even though they do take the majority of the fines to the treasury and not put into road safty.
Anybody have any opinions about this and your reactions?
I am no criminal , heh but i hate being watched
Moved to IMHO or (most likely) GD in five… four… three…
I guess it depends on the activity of the person. If I were being attacked, I’d probably be glad it’s there. If I were attacking, I’d probably wish it weren’t.
If I were wrongfully accused, I’d like it. If I were correctly accused, I probably wouldn’t.
All this without discussing one’s right to privacy. Wow.
I got a ticket for running a red light in Rosslyn, VA, from one of those cameras. Ultimate irony: I was returning from the county courthouse where I’d just paid a parking ticket.
Fortunately (at least in VA), points cannot be assessed on tickets from the cameras. But damn if they got great imaging.
I’m fine with it, people should not be able to break the law with impunity just because there aren’t (and never will be) enough cops on the street to catch everyone.
AWB, did you actually run that red light? If you did, obviously I can’t offer you any sympathy, I just hope that you stop next time, and that’s the intent of the camera.
If I’m walking on the street, in public, how can I expect privacy? In this case, a camera is no different than the guy standing next to me, seeing whatever it is I’m doing
If they want to point the camera into my window at home, that’s a problem, but can you expect privacy with open window shades? I don’t know, I live on the ground floor, and I have NO privacy with an open shade, any joker walking down the sidewalk can look right into my living room. I want privacy, I close the blinds. So can anyone else.
IANAL, but from what I understand there is no expectation of privacy when you’re out in public. I also have this “thing” about people who run red lights, stop signs, or cut in line at the movie theatre. They’d probably push their grandmother down stairs, or something.
Now all that said, I believe an automobile should be an extension of or considered equal to our homes. That is, roadblocks and such are obviously illegal, or rather they should be. I understand LEO’s frustration with crime, but I’m afraid it’s just a little too totalitarian.
Imagine the outcry if LEO’s blanketed the neighborhood knocking on doors “Mind if we look around?”
On second thought, I can hear it now… “As long as you don’t have anything to hide…”
Perhaps what we need are Cameras in everyone’s home… After all, if you have nothing to hide…
Tedster I think you are getting to the hart of the matter. The question is do we want to live in a society that has cameras monitoring our every move. I do not.
I think that a lot of people don’t have a problem with responsible police forces using cameras to catch criminals. However responsible police forces are somewhat like immovable objects a useful concept but not something found in the real world. As can be seen from history politicians and other people will use. Nixon had his enemies list. Clinton requested the FBI files. England is setting up cameras all over the place. Very good face recognition software is currently available and was used at the last super bowl to scan the crowd for undesirables. If cameras are all over the place the ability to monitor your every move automatically exists and will get used. It will be used to track criminals but it will also be abused. The people who run the system could follow anybody the wanted to around. Using Cheesesteak’s logic the would not even need a search warrant because nothing is being searched.
A sci fi police state is not being built up piece by piece so that we hardly notice it. Cheesesteak is demanding that is be built and ridiculing people who don’t like it.
I recently read two articles (sorry no cites) that pointed out flaws in the red light camera system.
In one instance, tickets were issued to several participants in a funeral procession. The motorcade had a police escort.
In the second article, tickets were issued to motorists who were waved through an intersection by police directing traffic around an accident.
Granted, these cases came to light after a judge dismissed charges on contested citations, but there’s bound to be a few who get ticketed under similar circumstance and just figure they got “busted”.
I think limited use of such cameras is a good idea. There was another thread on this subject a while back, and my stance is, essentially, thus: If it can be shown that a camera in any given area would do some good, I’m all for it. However, if a camera is placed in an area and it doesn’t seem to do ANY good, then I’m against it. Not on any “privacy” grounds (after all, if you’re in public, you don’t have any privacy), but on the simple fact that it’s a waste of taxpayer money.
Its great, one police officer can monitor a much wider area.
Speed cameras - there used to be lots of signs in small towns saying 'please slow down for our children ’ etc. and no one did, now with cameras people do slow down and there has been less deaths on the road.
Its just a way to increase policing at a reduced cost.
As has been insinuated earlier, I think it’s about how much of a police-state you’re willing to live with. Sure, cameras on every street corner don’t violate privacy, but it says a hell of a lot about the society that allowed it.
We don’t trust you enough to go out in public without being watched. Every person is viewed with suspicion. Every face a potential criminal.
It’s not that I don’t like the idea because it violates privacy, I don’t like the idea because I don’t want to live in a society where we’re such paranoid freaks. I’d rather work to change the people and accept that some crime will not happen on camera than say “all people are potential criminals so we must watch them 24x7”
FYI, Opinion and anecdotes follow.
As for cheesteak stating there aren’t enough police officers:
I watched four officers, in two cruisers and one van, arrest an old drunk (who did not put up any kind of struggle). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a routine traffic stop that didn’t involve at least two cops. Those wonderful think-of-the-children roadblocks usually involve at least three. And we need cameras 'cause we don’t have enough cops? For what? If these guys were actually out fighting crime, maybe I could understand it, but in my personal experience the beat-cops are spending 85% of their time joyriding or flapping their gums in a parking lot somewhere. I see the MA cops hanging around construction sites for no apparent reason other than to have the pretty blue lights flashing, and they have at least one on duty hanging around the bars in Government Center, his job being (apparently) to smoke and tell people to get out at quitting time.
Within the last couple of years, there was an incident in Newton Grove, NC where the entire police force resigned in one day [currently unable to find an on-line cite]. Guess how many crime spree’s popped up before the state cops could rush in and save the day? C’mon, guess.
