A World of Surveillance Doesn’t Always Help to Catch a Thief
Growing up in the UK and living in the US has given me the odd distinction of being strongly against online surveillance of private space, and strongly in favor of regulated visual surveillance of public space.<p>CCTV surveillance can protect the people I care about (especially women at night) from horrible violent crimes I&#x27;m actually scared of. It&#x27;s surveillance of public space, so the privacy compromise seems kind of moot (though uses of the footage should be strongly regulated). It makes policing violent and petty crime extremely cheap and effective (ask anyone who&#x27;s ever won or lost a fight outside a pub). CCTV makes me feel safe. It has utility.<p>On the Internet by contrast, the privacy trade-off (my thoughts, political opinions, contacts, location, in real-time) is extremely large, and the benefits largely hypothetical, and at least some part smoke and mirrors.