A question for you Britons here.......

[Saucycarpdog]

As I understand, the UK is the country with the most surveillance cameras than any other. I'm from the US and so don't understand much about this. So I decided to ask.

My question for you members from the good old UK, does this bother you? Do you feel your privacy has been breached?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Hookman]

...Britains? The term is Britons but I'll forgive you because it made me laugh.

To answer your question, CCTV hasn't really changed much (At least, in the area where I live) its made it a bit easier to catch people who are publicly drunk and stuff like that but most actual criminals have wised up and cover their faces and then the cameras are just pointless. One of the few times when it actually works is during riots (Which we have had recently) and people are too stupid to cover their faces properly when they're looting. Privacy isn't really an issue, its not like they're inside our houses.

 

[b3nn3tt]

Can't say that they've ever bothered me to be honest. But then again, I don't actually commit crimes, so there's no reason that they would. Also, they tend to be more around large town centres, so where I am there aren't that many anyway (that I can see).

I think that they are useful to some extent, but as Hookman said, most criminals have the sense to cover their faces anyway, so they are rendered a bit pointless.

 

[[The]Rock]

It's like big brother dude, I'm lucky I moved.

 

[Esotera]

They're barely even visible most of the time, unless you're actively looking for the cameras, so I don't think it troubles anyone that much. That said, the number of cameras we have is ridiculous and could use a reduction, or at least technology that blurs faces by default.

 

[vrbtny]

Nah, not really. Just gives up something to shove our middle fingers up at when we're annoyed.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It's only really an issue for people who live in London.

There really aren't that many anywhere else.

Even if they were everywhere, why should I care? They're cameras, not stalkers.

 

[Rawne1980]

It does nothing in the town I live.

People still break into shops, smash up the town centre and fight all of the damn place.

Most of the cameras don't work anyway.

Speed cameras are the worst. There are 12 in the drive from my house in Burnley to my mums at the top of Padiham, the next town over, and only 1 works.

While it may have seemed like a great idea to whatever numpty thought CCTV would help anything has been seriously mistaken.

Crimes still happen and it costs a fortune to maintain the cameras that don't do fuck all.

 

[MetaKnight19]

Not really, since there are no security camera's around where I live.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

My question for you members from the good old UK, does this bother you? Do you feel your privacy has been breached?

Quick note: It's "Britons" when used in that context usually. Don't ask why, we just have a weird language.

Yeah, we have the most watched, badly guarded people the world over. (Comparing Surveillance to Security). We have the most data taken on us and we're holding out against the ID card as much as we can for that reason.

Especially as Government minister's tend to leave them on the f-ing train.

Privacy is a BIG bugbear for us. Possibly moreso than in the States, where things like COPS seem to be just accepted as Television.

Most of the crooks around our area know exactly where they are, and even if people get photographed, the film is often rendered inadmissible in court.

Pointless waste of money that could be defeated simply by increasing the number of Police on the streets - by freeing them from crippling bureaucracy paperwork they're under at the moment.

 

[EmzOLV]

As someone who's lived in London, and someone who works with CCTV (to a certain degree - we hire it in for large scale entertainment events), I seriously don't even notice it. I mean... why should I? It's not like I'm doing anything outside of the normal.

In a working practice, CCTV has helped us make many convictions, from assaults to theft, to anti-social behaviour, etc etc.

If the majority of people really think that a minimal number of staff are sat there watching them be 'normal' on CCTV or even giving a care in the world about you, then perhaps you are much more paranoid than me. I mean, I only know from our working practices that there would be no time and it wouldn't even cross the attention span of our workers to watch people behaving normally. It's all about finding the bad eggs. It's all about helping those who are victims to pin down the people who have caused them stress or... well, it could be something horrific. I have been through long investigation cases where it has rested on visual evidence and the feeling you get when you can help say, a guy who was attacked and had everything stolen to pinpoint who did it and then see it all follow through, its a great feeling. There's a hope attached to it.

It's just another form of evidence. It's just there. It exists and it probably won't go away any time soon. I don't feel watched. Why would I be? What's interesting about me being boring and normal?

Just my two pennies of course someone is probably going to disagree with me and that, and that's totally cool, I just thought I would add my perspective into it all!

 

[Hoplon]

Well I have them all mapped out so I can avoid them in public spaces.

They aren't stealing my soul!

 

[glyn]

There are lots of them and they're all useless except for watching how many people go past them. I got set on by 2 lads outside the shops near my house right in front of a camera. The police looked at the vid and said it wasn't clear enough to positively ID them in court, they could tell who it was, but only because the miscreants were "known to the police" as they say. They showed me the vid and I couldn't have IDed them from it, they hadn't made any attempt to hide who they were.

Heard similar tales so many times that they're obviously just a waste of money.

The average speed camera sections are far worse: when there's a fixed speed camera, people are only watching the speedo for a few yards, travelling down the motorway in an average speed area is terrifying as you look round and realise everyone is doing 70 mph and not one of them is looking down the road, they're all looking at the speedo.

As for ID cards, the conspiracy theorist in me wonders why the old government wanted them so much as everytime they were trotted out as an idea, the reasons were debunked totally, ID cards bob down, then returned a bit later with a new reason waiting to be ridiculed.

I don't know what the real/hidden ;-) plan was but the fact they kept trying with different reasoning (see also, "Why we invaded Iraq") struck me as odd

 

[Gunner 51]

I find the surveillance state to be incredibly intrusive to be the first blow in chipping away the civil liberties we in Britain take for granted. But the Closed Circuit Television Cameras aren't just in the streets, they're in practically every building around - you can't scratch your arse without some voyeuristic type watching you.

First they put CCTV cameras everywhere, then it's stop'n'search, then full-body scanners in airports and armed policemen everywhere. Before you know it, you have yourself a fascist state and the populace can't rebel because the state knows what you're up to before you put it into action.

The CCTV cameras are the vanguard of a paranoid people and an incompetent state.

 

[Mechanical Cat Fish]

I don't feel my privacy's being threatened at all. They're all in public places anyway, and what does a law abiding citizen have to hide? I do question how much good they do, but I'm sure they've had some impact on crime/conviction levels.

 

[dimensional]

My question for you members from the good old UK, does this bother you? Do you feel your privacy has been breached?

Quick note: It's "Britons" when used in that context usually. Don't ask why, we just have a weird language.

Yeah, we have the most watched, badly guarded people the world over. (Comparing Surveillance to Security). We have the most data taken on us and we're holding out against the ID card as much as we can for that reason.

Especially as Government minister's tend to leave them on the f-ing train.

Privacy is a BIG bugbear for us. Possibly moreso than in the States, where things like COPS seem to be just accepted as Television.

Most of the crooks around our area know exactly where they are, and even if people get photographed, the film is often rendered inadmissible in court.

Pointless waste of money that could be defeated simply by increasing the number of Police on the streets - by freeing them from crippling bureaucracy paperwork they're under at the moment.

I agree completely you have just said pretty much exactly what crossed my mind as I read the thread title as it stands where I live there are no cameras (thankfully) and only a few street lights this cctv is mostly prevalent in large urban areas and areas of business and as has been mentioned is largely pointless. If anything that is what bothers me a further sacrifice of freedom for little increase in security.

 

[Burnhardt]

As I understand, the UK is the country with the most surveillance cameras than any other. I'm from the US and so don't understand much about this. So I decided to ask.

My question for you members from the good old UK, does this bother you? Do you feel your privacy has been breached?

Thanks for any input.

The cameras are not and do not look into my home so no on both counts.

In general I tend not to pay any attention to them and as a law-abiding citizen don't have anything to worry about them.