of kids want an iPad
The Nielsen Company presented a cadre of individuals with a list of nice, shiny gadgets and let them cross off anything and everything they'd like to buy in the next six months, and 31 percent of kids 6-12 picked the iPad as one of them.
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1. Its lollypop people not crossing guards
2. We have cities in Britain, we don't all live in little thatched cottages in little towns
3. Were so brainwashed that we don't notice the cameras. I'm sure if you came over you'd go *que really poor American accent* "wow that's a lot of cameras" they've crept up on us so we don't notice!
I think that there is a balance between being so brainwashed that we don't notice the cameras, and being so brainwashed to think they are everywhere. They aren't. Yes, if you use public transport, go near public buildings, or walk through town centres where there are pubs, clubs etc, then there are plenty of cameras. There are even flashing warning signs *saying* there are cameras. This is not "covert repression" as someone said. It is neither covert (it's not like anyone is trying to hide them), and sorry but if you feel repressed by surveillance in public places then I've got to ask what it is you want to do that you feel the need to repress.
And if we actually had sufficient police back on the streets to do the equivalent job of all those cameras, what would people say? We live in a police state! You can't win.
Don't forget, cameras are used by people *doing their job*. It is nobody's job to sit watching the world go by like they were in a cafe. Some security guards may think that's their job, and companies waste plenty of money employing them, but some parts of the media portray CCTV as some kind of peep show. This is plainly obvious from some of the comments posted here. Get real! Monitoring CCTV is about spotting criminal activity, and don't imagine those doing the job really care, or have the time to care, about random members of the public who are just going about their life. I've had access to confidential records about members of the public before and (a) the idea that it would be exciting to go looking up stuff about your mates lasts less than 5 minutes into the job, and (b) access is tracked so it would be flagged by the system. Same goes for all that CCTV.
And in any case, if people are so offended at being watched, maybe cafes should be banned -- all those people just sat their (horror) *looking* at people! Maybe we need a new crime of "looking at someone else". Force people to only look at the pavement as they walk down the street. Fear of cameras is a symptom of a society that is conditioned by the media (and/or government, but the media are responsible for carrying the message) to fear other people, and that fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of irrational mistrust.
People need to chill out, respect others, and obey the law. If everyone did that, then the government and businesses wouldn't spend the money installing cameras!