Category Archives: Law

In a recent issue of Popular Mechanics, Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds provides some interesting insights on privacy law and policy and how the age of widespread technology sees government monitoring citizens and citizens monitoring government. My thoughts on the matter can be summarized as:

Government monitoring citizens = worthy of serious concern and regulation; sometimes necessary, but opens the door to significant abuses of discretion by agents of the state

Citizens’ monitoring of government = almost always a good idea; could be used for ill purposes though; worthy of very limited regulation

In both cases the potential for distortion of the truth is a serious problem – both in taking things out context and in manipulating images and audio.

Here’s an excerpt or two from Reynolds:

There’s a difference, though. In the old days, ordinary people didn’t have much privacy, but neither did big shots. By contrast, today’s government officials and big corporations often want to watch us, but they don’t want to be watched in return. Shopping malls are full of security cameras, but many have signs at the entrance telling customers that no photography or video recording is allowed. Police cars have dashboard cameras, cities and counties are posting red-light and speed-limit cameras, and it seems that the dream of many government officials is to put every public space under 24-hour video watch. But try shooting photos or video of police or ­other public officials as they go about their business and you might find yourself in wrist restraints.

….

Under the law, citizens have no right not to be photographed in public places. So why should people who make their living on the taxpayers’ dime enjoy greater freedom from public scrutiny than the taxpayers themselves? Civil liberties groups have begun supporting the trend toward a video-enabled populace. The Eastern Missouri chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sends out volunteers with cameras, though they have faced police hostility at times.

Over the long haul, such efforts may be superfluous. The widespread availability of digital cameras and video-capable cellphones means that ubiquitous surveillance on the part of the little guys is moving, if anything, even faster than ubiquitous surveillance on the part of the big boys. And distribution tools like YouTube make it easier to get the footage to a large audience.

I think that’s a good thing. Today’s pervasive surveillance may seem like something out of 1984, but access to technology has become a lot more democratic since Orwell’s time. Big Brother had a network of security cameras, but could that oppressive regime have survived a network of cellphones?

[More from the article here.]