RE: "if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?"

["Larry Seltzer" <larry () larryseltzer com>]

> > "if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" 

I've heard some talk about putting cameras in private places, but that's a
straw man. The real question is about cameras in public places.

I've never understood what the problem was with cameras in public places,
taking pictures of public places. I don't even know why anyone would be
bothered by them. It's a bloody public place, like a street corner, nobody
has any reasonable expectation of privacy there. Nobody would object to a
policeman standing there looking at the same area covered by the camera.
What interest is threatened, what right violated? I just don't get it.

As for criminals going to where the cameras are, there are a few answers: 1)
this will just show where more cameras are needed; 2) If ordinary
non-criminals also know where the cameras are they know where they will be
relatively more safe; 3) police can concentrate more on the uncovered areas.

It's mostly about making the police more effective, but I think there's
exculpative potential too. A camera can be used to show that a person was
*not* at a particular place at a particular time. Also, given a choice
between an individual or police officer's testimony that they saw me at a
location and an actual video of what happened I'll choose the video.

Larry Seltzer
eWEEK.com Security Center Editor
http://security.eweek.com/
http://blog.ziffdavis.com/seltzer
Contributing Editor, PC Magazine
larryseltzer () ziffdavis com 


_______________________________________________
Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.