Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

big brother

Big Brother Has Been Found

He is –you-.

In England today there are millions of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras pointed at public places.  Fortunately (depending on your point of view), most of them are completely unmonitored the vast majority of the time.  

Seeing an opportunity to leverage the voyeuristic inclinations of millions of  people at home with time and computers on their hands, a group of entrepreneurs have created a company called Internet Eyes where you can register for free to randomly watch some of these.  If you spy someone Doing Wrong (shoplifting, being impolite to a picture of the Queen, what-have-you) you can peck a button and send an alert.  If you alert a shop-owner to a crime you can be eligible for an award.

So what do you think?  Is this “Crowd Sourced” surveillance a Bridge Too Far into invading privacy, or just a sign of changing norms?