Published: Friday, 16th May, 2008 16:30
Big Brother is watching us
By Dan Gowar
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GEORGE Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ predicted a future when the state would keep an eye on everyone by use of cameras.
The book contained several new phrases and words which would later become part of our language. The best known of these is the phrase ‘Big Brother is watching you.’
Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, had his novel published in 1949, but died the following year. Many of his predictions came true. While acknowledging the need for surveillance to fight crime, in recent years I have become troubled by the number of cameras watching us.
It’s not down to a guilty conscience, rather a concern that a growing number of cameras may be used against people who are not career criminals.
A while ago, someone was fined after a camera up a tree next to a layby ‘caught’ a parked driver dropping a fag end out of the window.
My understanding is the camera was there to concentrate on those fly-tipping three-piece suites, old fridges and building rubble, although the driver should not have disposed of the cigarette in the way they did.
There is no question CCTV has convicted seriously-dangerous people whose prosecutions might not have been successful without these cameras.
But I still have the feeling ordinary, decent citizens may be penalised by cameras when they have inadvertently made a minor misdemeanour.
For example, returning to the layby business, I once stopped in one to stretch my limbs and several sheets of paper flew out the car when I opened the door.
It is possible a camera operator’s viewpoint might have suggested a deliberate act and I would have faced a fine.
Incidentally, the sheets of paper were blown into the busy carriageway and it would have been suicidal to attempt retrieval. Goodness knows where they ended up.
I recently caught sight of a report which suggested the UK has 4.2 million CCTV cameras — or around 20 per cent of the world’s total.
We should be grateful if they are deterring criminals. Unfortunately, while the camera is said not to lie, it does not always show the whole picture.
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